Complexities of Inferring Symbiont Function: <i>Paraburkholderia</i> Symbiont Dynamics in Social Amoeba Populations and Their Impacts on the Amoeba Microbiota

Abstract

The functions of symbionts in natural populations can be difficult to completely discern. The three Paraburkholderia bacterial farming symbionts of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum have been shown in the laboratory environment to allow the amoebas to carry, rather than fully digest, food bacteria.