Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Methods for the Extraction of Endosymbionts from the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci
Published on: June 19, 2017
Biology of Fungi and Their Bacterial Endosymbionts
Teresa E Pawlowska1, Maria L Gaspar2, Olga A Lastovetsky3
1School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe-Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA;
Abstract:
Heritable symbioses, in which endosymbiotic bacteria (EB) are transmitted vertically between host generations, are an important source of evolutionary novelties. A primary example of such symbioses is the eukaryotic cell with its EB-derived organelles. Recent discoveries suggest that endosymbiosis-related innovations can be also found in associations formed by early divergent fungi in the phylum Mucoromycota with heritable EB from two classes, Betaproteobacteria and Mollicutes. These symbioses exemplify novel types of host-symbiont interactions. Studies of these partnerships fuel theoretical models describing mechanisms that stabilize heritable symbioses, control the rate of molecular evolution, and enable the establishment of mutualisms. Lastly, by altering host phenotypes and metabolism, these associations represent an important instrument for probing the basic biology of the Mucoromycota hosts, which remain one of the least explored filamentous fungi.
Related Concept Videos
The Roles of Bacteria and Fungi in Plant Nutrition
Overview of Fungi
What is Conservation Biology?
Biological Effects of Radiation
Bacterial Transformation
Griffith made an unexpected discovery when he killed the pathogenic strain and mixed its remains with the live, non-pathogenic strain. Not only did the mixture kill host mice, but it also contained living pathogenic bacteria that...
Bacterial Signaling

