Nature Communications (Apr 2017)
Antibiotic-producing symbionts dynamically transition between plant pathogenicity and insect-defensive mutualism
Abstract
Observations of recent or dynamic transitions between parasitism and mutualism are scarce. Here, Flórezet al. provide evidence that Burkholderia gladiolibacteria can protect the eggs of herbivorous beetles by producing antimicrobial compounds, while retaining their ancestral ability to infect plants.