Reposted by Colin Garroway
Excited to see our work out in @pnas.org!
We asked how mobile genetic elements generate functional diversity in symbionts and found a plasmid that protects aphids from lethal pathogens, helping to explain variation in defence across natural aphid populations.
See @ben-parker.bsky.social thread👇
pnas.org
Phenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont | PNAS
Heritable microbes profoundly influence insect biology, yet the traits they confer
often evolve rapidly and differ among closely related symbiont s...