Assistant Professor University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico
The beetle–fungus mutualisms between Drugstore and Cigarette beetles and their symbionts Symbiotaphrina were pioneering systems for the study of symbiosis. They were heavily researched between 1920 and 1970, but have received only sporadic attention in the past 50 years. Several features make this a unique research system, including (1) the symbiont is both extracellular and intracellular during the life cycle of the host, and (2) both beetle and fungus can be cultured in isolation. Here I will provide an update about research underway in our laboratory on these systems and our efforts to modernize these systems with genomic resources. I will touch on our methods to manipulate beetle-fungus interactions and gene expression results from the larval and adult mycetome – focusing on the origin, maintenance, and evolution of this mutualism.
