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Tag: endosymbiotic bacteria

Bactrocera dorsalis

Gut Microbes Can Help Insects Beat Pesticides

Insects have evolved a variety of mechanisms to try to overcome the effects of insecticides—including, in some cases, help from the bacteria and other microbes living in insects' guts. A growing number of studies indicate a link between symbiotic microbes and insecticide resistance in a diverse range of insects.

tettigades cicada

Cicadas Race to Catch Up With Their Evolving Endosymbionts

In cicadas, a world of microbes has evolved to provide them nutrients. Researchers at the University of Montana have discovered that a cicada bacterial endosymbiont, Hodgkinia cicadicola, has split into at least two dozen lineages within cicada cells, in an apparent case of nonadaptive evolution.