Hosts winnow symbionts with multiple layers of absolute and conditional discrimination mechanisms
Creators
- 1. Washington State University Vancouver
- 2. Brigham Young University
Description
In mutualism, hosts select symbionts via partner choice and preferentially direct more resources to symbionts that provide greater benefits via sanctions. At the initiation of symbiosis, prior to resource exchange, it is not known how the presence of multiple symbiont options (i.e., the symbiont social environment) impacts partner choice outcomes. Furthermore, little research addresses whether hosts primarily discriminate among symbionts via sanctions, partner choice or a combination. We inoculated the legume, Acmispon wrangelianus, with 28 pairs of fluorescently labeled Mesorhizobium strains that vary continuously in quality as nitrogen-fixing symbionts. We find that hosts exert robust partner choice, which enhances their fitness. This partner choice is conditional such that a strain's success in initiating nodules is impacted by other strains in the social environment. This social genetic effect is as important as a strain's own genotype in determining nodulation and has both transitive (consistent) and intransitive (idiosyncratic) effects on the probability that a symbiont will form a nodule. Furthermore, both absolute and conditional partner choice act in concert with sanctions, among and within nodules. Thus, multiple forms of host discrimination act as a series of sieves that optimize host benefits and select for costly symbiont cooperation in mixed symbiont populations.
Notes
We provide three datasets as csv files and one R code file that contains code for analyzing the data in these files. In addition, two more csv files are provided to save time but these files can also be regenerated using code in the R file. See the README file for metadata for each data set. The contents of each file are as follows:
* symbiosis_phenotype_data.csv contains Mesorhizobium and host plant fitness data from the greenhouse experiment. This file contains a metadata description in the first column.
* cfu_data.csv contains nodule culturing data (counts of colony forming units). This file contains a metadata description in the first column.
* growth_data.csv contains each of the eight Mesorhizobium strains growth rate. This file contains a metadata description in the first column.
* noduleproportion_models_randomized.csv is an extra file that is provided to save time when reproducing part of figure S2 (nodule proportion), or the code that generated this output file is included in the R code file (Montoya_et_al_2022_code.R)
* shootmass_models_randomized.csv is an extra file that is provided to save time when reproducing part of figure S2 (shoot mass), or the code that generated this output file is included in the R code file (Montoya_et_al_2022_code.R)
* Montoya_et_al_2022_code.R contains R code for importing, processing, and analyzing data from the above datasets. It also contains code for producing figures from these data.
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: NSF-IOS-1755454
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008982
Award Number: NSF-DEB-1943239
Funding provided by: Washington State University
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007588
Award Number: College of Arts and Sciences Research Assistantship and the Carl H. Elling Endowment Award
Files
cfu_data.csv
Files
(2.9 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:d904249cd862a81bf4fccdd59e2820d2
|
74.3 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:59efd957596e0c08657430400a1aa321
|
1.1 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:9b0def910541e8001a03ee03b71614ff
|
182.7 kB | Download |
|
md5:0cb40c81ab1fc83bf3e7fd2055efb413
|
896.8 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:1b0861c03d1a0b69aeef76ba4fdcc5ea
|
8.1 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:665b0eef17631a88a9c602a291c4e0d0
|
1.6 MB | Preview Download |
|
md5:221544fa0586d2f00519a49046f69b2d
|
121.6 kB | Preview Download |