Outsourcing immunity: Symbiont-mediated defense of immature life stages in insects

Martin Kaltenpoth
Insect symbiosis department, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Symbiotic associations with microbes are important driving forces of evolutionary innovation. Several insects engage in symbiotic alliances that protect their immature stages against pathogen infection through the production of antimicrobial compounds. I will report on novel findings of symbiont-provided antibiotic defense in beewolf wasps and darkling beetles, discussing the ecological dynamics and evolutionary implications of defensive symbiosis, as well as the genomic consequences for the bacterial partners.