ArticleEcology letters2025
Defensive Symbiont Genotype Distributions Are Linked to Parasitoid Attack Networks.
Article in Ecology letters, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Phenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Endosymbiont-mediated resistance: effects of Hamiltonella defensa (Enterobacterales: Enterobacteriaceae) on parasitism of Aphidius colemani and Praon volucre (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Aphis craccivora (Hemiptera: Aphididae).Journal of insect science (Online) · 2026Article
- Phage toxin variants are linked to protection specificity in a defensive symbiont.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Ecological Mercenaries: Why Aphids Remain Premier Models for the Study of Ecological Symbiosis.Insects · 2025Review
- Microbial Community Dynamics in Natural Drosophila melanogaster Populations Across Seasons.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Facultative symbionts are widespread in arthropods and can provide important services such as protection from natural enemies. Yet what shapes associations with defensive symbionts in nature remains unclear. Two hypotheses suggest that interactions with either antagonists or host plants explain the prevalence of symbionts through shared selective pressures or vectors of symbiont transmission. Here we investigate the factors determining similarities in the Hamiltonella defensa symbiosis shared amongst field-collected aphid species. After accounting for host species relatedness, we find that Hamiltonella's genotype distribution aligns with sharing the same parasitoids, rather than host plants, highlighting parasitoids and hosts as key selective agents shaping the symbiosis across aphid species. Our data indicates parasitoid host specificity drives the prevalence of specific aphid-Hamiltonella associations, suggesting defensive symbioses are maintained by the selective pressure imposed by dominant parasitoids and their aphid hosts. These findings underscore the importance of interactions with natural enemies in explaining patterns of defensive symbiosis in nature.
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Registered trials
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