Griffin, Joanne 
ORCID: 0000-0002-6401-7544
(2019)
Investigating the biology of host shifts of heritable microbes
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
|
Text
200805008_May2019.pdf - Unspecified Download (4MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Arthropods are commonly infected with chronic bacterial infections that are passed from mother to offspring, typically transovarially. Obligate mutualists provide arthropod hosts with nutrients, facultative mutualists protect hosts against natural enemies, and reproductive parasites alter the host’s offspring sex ratio. These phenotypes ensure future transmission events of the endosymbiont. Heritable microbe frequencies vary across host populations. Some species, for example Wolbachia, are predicted to be in over 50% of all arthropod species and do not appear to have any focussed taxonomic affiliations whereas Cardinium is present in 7% of species, with spiders and mites a pronounced incidence hotspot. The incidence of heritable microbes in nature is in part a product of their capacity to host shift. The success of the host shift depends on host compatibility (ability to receive and transmit a novel endosymbiont without the bacteria causing excess pathology or eliciting the host’s immune response). Compatibility evolves independently of the novel endosymbiont and a key determinant of the bacteria’s success is the phylogenetic distance of the novel host from the ancestral host. However, the extent to ... (continues)
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health & Life Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Aug 2020 13:12 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2025 15:53 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03066624 |
| Supervisors: |
|
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3066624 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
Altmetric
Altmetric