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DEVELOPMENTAL MOSAICS. "Development then becomes a matter of interspecies communication. We are not individuals from the viewpoint of developmental biology."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

OUTSOURCED SIGNALS. "​In the developing guts of mice and zebrafish, hundreds of genes are activated by bacterial symbionts. The coevolution of mammals and their gut bacteria has in effect resulted in the “outsourcing” of developmental signals from animal cells to microbial symbionts."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

FISH GUT TRIGGERS. "​In zebrafish, microbes regulate (through the canonical Wnt pathway) the normal proliferation of the intestinal stem cells. Without these microbes, the intestinal epithelium has fewer cells, and it lacks goblet cells, entroendocrine cells, and the characteristic intestinal brush border enzymes."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

GROUP SELECTION. "Symbionts can therefore provide selectable allelic variation such that the entire group—the holobiont—is the selectable entity rather than either host or symbiont alone. Thus, microbes provide a second hereditary system that enables holobiont survival and selection."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

IMMUNE AND DIGESTIVE TRIGGERS. "​In “germ-free” asymbiotic mice, the development of the immune system and the digestive system cannot be completed without gut bacteria. Rather, these mice have insufficient intestinal capillaries, poorly developed or absent gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and a diminished T-cell repertoire that gives them an immunodeficiency syndrome."​ View in LinkedIn

MATE SELECTION. "Recent studies in Drosophila, for instance, demonstrate that the symbionts (not alleles of nuclear genes) provide important pheromonal cues necessary for mating preference."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

LIGHT ORGAN TRIGGER. "The newborn of the squid Euprymna scolopes lacks a light organ, which is developed in cooperation between the squid and the luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fisheri) absorbed by its ventral epithelium. Without the bacteria, the organ does not develop."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

HORIZONTAL TRANSFER. "There is also allelic variation in the human microbiome. The genes of Bacteroides plebeius differ in different human populations. The Japanese strain contains at least two genes (horizontally transferred from a marine relative) that enable the bacteria to metabolize complex sugars, such as those found in seaweeds."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend that touched on the concept of the individual and mosaicism. Division of labour is an old concept, but its threads can be seen at all levels in living things, from societies to genomes. Indeed, overlaid by the concept of outsourcing, vast biological efficiencies and expanded functionality can be achieved by the combination. View in LinkedIn

COSELECTION. "The microbial symbionts represent diverse genomes; and those genomes can also be coselected together with the genome of their host. In aphids, symbiotic bacteria provide selectable allelic variation (thermotolerance, color, parasitoid resistance) that enable some hosts to persist better under different environmental conditions."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn