Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • Educational Assets
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Do Gut Microbes, Hosts Work Together During Evolution?

By R&D Editors | April 21, 2016

The millimeter-long nematode C. elegans (left) gulps bacteria and grinds it up for food (center). But some bacteria live permanently in its gut (center, black arrows). A few of these enterobacteria, each about 1 micron across, can be seen at high magnification in the nematode’s gut (right). (Electron microscope images by Maureen Berg, U.C. Berkeley)Feed two separate groups of fruit flies different food, and the two groups will develop different gut microbiotas tailored to their diet. But according to Prof. Michael Shapira, who teaches integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, within one generation, the difference in diet led to the fruit flies exhibiting a mating preference for flies in their own group.

“This led to de facto reproductive isolation of two populations and could facilitate future speciation, that is, real reproductive isolation—a genetic barrier preventing members of the two groups from parenting viable or fertile progeny,” Shapira said in a statement.

In a study slated for publication in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Shapira reviewed previous examples of the symbiotic relationship between microbiotas and their influence on their hosts’ evolution. This coevolution is well-accepted among the scientific community. “However, the emerging importance of plant- and animal-associated microbiotas in their hosts suggests a scale of co-evolutionary interactions many-fold greater than previously considered,” Shapira wrote in the study, which is available online.

Specifically, Shapira is expanding on the hologenome concept, which was proposed by Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg and Eugene Rosenberg in 2008. Rather than the genomes of the host and microbiota acting separately, the concept says they coalesce.

“During periods of rapid changes in the environment, the diverse microbial symbiont community can aid the holobiont in surviving, multiplying and buying the time necessary for the host genome to evolve,” Zilberg-Rosenberg and Rosenberg wrote in their study. “The distinguishing feature of the hologenome theory is that it considers all of the diverse microbiota associated with the animal or the plant as part of the evolving holobiont.”

Shapira hypothesizes that animals along with a core set of microbiota evolve in tandem. But it’s a separate group of microbiota, a flexible pool, which helps the host adapt to changing environments and diets quickly.

According to U.C. Berkeley, an example of this in action is when the broad-headed stink bug successfully adapted to withstand pesticide. This occurred when it acquired a microbe capable of detoxification.

Shapira, who studies the microbes of the roundworm, plans on testing his hypothesis on roundworms in future experiments.    

 

R&D 100 AWARD ENTRIES NOW OPEN:

Establish your company as a technology leader! For more than 50 years, the R&D 100 Awards have showcased new products of technological significance. You can join this exclusive community! Learn more.

Related Articles Read More >

5 R&D developments to keep an eye on this week: Solar crash and Trump’s energy pivot meets Musk’s rebellion
Mayo Clinic develops AI tool that can spot 9 dementia types with a single scan
Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome AI predicts how non-coding DNA can drive disease
Top 10 drugs by patent volume: How biologics build ‘platform empires’ while small molecule create ‘patent thickets’
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • Educational Assets
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE