Relevance of microbial symbiosis to insect behavior

• Published in: Current opinion in insect science Vol. 39; pp. 91 - 100
• Main Authors: Hosokawa, Takahiro, Fukatsu, Takema
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.06.2020
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Behavior; behavior change; beneficial microorganisms; Biological Evolution; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Fungi; Host Microbial Interactions; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; insect behavior; Insecta - microbiology; Insecta - physiology; insects; microsymbionts; Symbiosis
• ISSN: 2214-5745; 2214-5745; 2214-5753
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.03.004

•Some insects exhibit sophisticated behaviors for vertical symbiont transmission.•A variety of symbiont-induced behavioral changes have emerged in recent studies.•Symbiont transmission behaviors may comprise a focal subject in this research field. Microbial symbiosis is widespread among insects. This article reviews our understanding of insect behaviors relevant to commensalistic and mutualistic microbial symbiosis, which has received relatively less attention compared to insect behaviors in parasitic symbiosis. First, we review our knowledge of symbiont transmission behaviors by which the host insects maintain associations with beneficial microorganisms over generations. Some insects that extracellularly harbor mutualistic symbionts exhibit particularly sophisticated behaviors for vertical symbiont transmission. Next, we highlight notable studies on behavioral changes induced by symbiont infection. In the last decade, a number of studies have demonstrated or suggested that mutualistic or commensalistic symbiont infections affect their host behaviors. Finally, future directions regarding these research topics are discussed.