Holobiont

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Microbiome relationships mirror host evolution. The more distantly related species are, the more distinct the composition of their cognate microbiomes, as reflected in the overlaid phylogeny of wasps and their microbiota.[1]

A holobiont is an assemblage of a host and the many other species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis,[2] though there is controversy over this discreteness. The components of a holobiont are individual species or bionts, while the combined genome of all bionts is the hologenome. The holobiont concept was initially introduced by the German theoretical biologist Adolf Meyer-Abich in 1943,[3] and then apparently independently by Dr. Lynn Margulis in her 1991 book Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation.[2] The concept has evolved since the original formulations.[4] Holobionts include the host, virome, microbiome, and any other organisms which contribute in some way to the functioning of the whole.[5][6] Well-studied holobionts include reef-building corals and humans.[7][8]

  1. ^ Brooks AW, Kohl KD, Brucker RM, van Opstal EJ, Bordenstein SR (November 2016). "Phylosymbiosis: Relationships and Functional Effects of Microbial Communities across Host Evolutionary History". PLOS Biology. 14 (11): e2000225. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000225. PMC 5115861. PMID 27861590. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  2. ^ a b Margulis L, Fester R (1991). Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262132695.
  3. ^ Baedke J, Fábregas-Tejeda A, Nieves Delgado A (2020). "The holobiont concept before Margulis". J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol). 334 (3): 149–55. doi:10.1002/jez.b.22931. PMC 212183. PMID 3294806.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Theis2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ De Weger LA, van der Vlugt CI, Wijfjes AH, Bakker PA, Schippers B, Lugtenberg B (June 1987). "Flagella of a plant-growth-stimulating Pseudomonas fluorescens strain are required for colonization of potato roots". Journal of Bacteriology. 169 (6): 2769–73. doi:10.1128/jb.169.6.2769-2773.1987. PMC 212183. PMID 3294806.
  6. ^ Vandenkoornhuyse P, Quaiser A, Duhamel M, Le Van A, Dufresne A (June 2015). "The importance of the microbiome of the plant holobiont". The New Phytologist. 206 (4): 1196–206. doi:10.1111/nph.13312. PMID 25655016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Knowlton2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kramer2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).