098: Insect and human microbial symbionts with Seth Bordenstein

Over the course of a few decades, scientists have learned how insect endosymbiont bacteria affects insect reproduction and have used this understanding to control mosquito-born diseases. Seth Bordenstein talks about his research on the insect endosymbiont Wolbachia, human-microbiome interactions, and how the ecosystem of a host and its microbes can be refered to as a holobiont. Take the listener survey at asm.org/mtmpoll Links for this Episode: Bordenstein Lab at Vanderbilt University mSystems: Getting the hologenome concept right: an eco-evolutionary framwork for hosts and their microbiomes. PLoS Biology: Gut microbiota diversity across ethnicities in the United States. PNAS: One prophage WO gene rescues cytoplasmic incompatibility in Drosophila melanogaster. Discover the Microbes within! The Wolbachia Project HOM Tidbit: Studies on Rickettsia-Like Micro-Organisms in Insects (1924 paper from Hertig and Wolbach)