Fitness costs and benefits vary for two facultative Burkholderia symbionts of the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum

The impacts of host association and perturbation on symbiont fitness

Symbiosis can benefit hosts in numerous ways, but less is known about whether interactions with hosts benefit symbionts-the smaller species in the relationship. To determine the fitness impact of host association on symbionts in likely mutualisms, we conducted a meta-analysis across 91 unique host-symbiont pairings under a range of spatial and temporal contexts. Specifically, we assess the consequences to symbiont fitness when in and out of symbiosis, as well as when the symbiosis is under suboptimal or varying environments and biological conditions (e.g., host age). We find that some intracellular symbionts associated with protists tend to have greater fitness when the symbiosis is under stressful conditions. Symbionts of plants and animals did not exhibit this trend, suggesting that symbionts of multicellular hosts are more robust to perturbations. Symbiont fitness also generally increased with host age. Lastly, we show that symbionts able to proliferate in- and outside host cells exhibit greater fitness than those found exclusively inside or outside cells. The ability to grow in multiple locations may thus help symbionts thrive. We discuss these fitness patterns in light of host-driven factors, whereby hosts exert influence over symbionts to suit their own needs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13199-024-00984-6.

Reduced social function in experimentally evolved Dictyostelium discoideum implies selection for social conflict in nature

Many microbes interact with one another, but the difficulty of directly observing these interactions in nature makes interpreting their adaptive value complicated. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum forms aggregates wherein some cells are sacrificed for the benefit of others. Within chimaeric aggregates containing multiple unrelated lineages, cheaters can gain an advantage by undercontributing, but the extent to which wild D. discoideum has adapted to cheat is not fully clear. In this study, we experimentally evolved D. discoideum in an environment where there were no selective pressures to cheat or resist cheating in chimaeras. Dictyostelium discoideum lines grown in this environment evolved reduced competitiveness within chimaeric aggregates and reduced ability to migrate during the slug stage. By contrast, we did not observe a reduction in cell number, a trait for which selection was not relaxed. The observed loss of traits that our laboratory conditions had made irrelevant suggests that these traits were adaptations driven and maintained by selective pressures D. discoideum faces in its natural environment. Our results suggest that D. discoideum faces social conflict in nature, and illustrate a general approach that could be applied to searching for social or non-social adaptations in other microbes.

Symbiotic bacteria, immune-like sentinel cells, and the response to pathogens in a social amoeba

Some endosymbionts living within a host must modulate their hosts' immune systems in order to infect and persist. We studied the effect of a bacterial endosymbiont on a facultatively multicellular social amoeba host. Aggregates of the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum contain a subpopulation of sentinel cells that function akin to the immune systems of more conventional multicellular organisms. Sentinel cells sequester and discard toxins from D. discoideum aggregates and may play a central role in defence against pathogens. We measured the number and functionality of sentinel cells in aggregates of D. discoideum infected by bacterial endosymbionts in the genus Paraburkholderia. Infected D. discoideum produced fewer and less functional sentinel cells, suggesting that Paraburkholderia may interfere with its host's immune system. Despite impaired sentinel cells, however, infected D. discoideum were less sensitive to ethidium bromide toxicity, suggesting that Paraburkholderia may also have a protective effect on its host. By contrast, D. discoideum infected by Paraburkholderia did not show differences in their sensitivity to two non-symbiotic pathogens. Our results expand previous work on yet another aspect of the complicated relationship between D. discoideum and Paraburkholderia, which has considerable potential as a model for the study of symbiosis.

Facultative symbiont virulence determines horizontal transmission rate without host strain specificity

In facultative symbioses, only a fraction of hosts are associated with a symbiont. Understanding why specific host and symbiont strains are associated can inform us of the evolutionary forces affecting facultative symbioses. Possibilities include ongoing host-symbiont coevolution driven by reciprocal selection, or priority effects that are neutral in respect to the host-symbiont interaction. We hypothesized that ongoing host-symbiont coevolution would lead to higher fitness estimates for naturally co-occurring (native) host and symbiont combinations compared to nonnative combinations. We used the Dictyostelium discoideum - Paraburkholderia bonniea system to test this hypothesis. P. bonniea features a reduced genome size relative to another Paraburkholderia symbiont of D. discoideum, indicating a significant history of coevolution with its host. Facultative symbionts may experience continued genome reduction if coevolution is ongoing, or their genome size may have reached a stable state if the symbiosis has also stabilized. Our work demonstrates that ongoing coevolution is unlikely for D. discoideum and P. bonniea. The system instead represents a stable facultative symbiosis. Specifically associated host and symbiont strains in this system are the result of priority effects, and presently unassociated hosts are simply uncolonized. We find evidence for a virulence-transmission trade-off without host strain specificity, and identify candidate virulence factors in the genomes of P. bonniea strains that may contribute to variation in benevolence.

Paraburkholderia symbionts isolated from Dictyostelium discoideum induce bacterial carriage in other Dictyostelium species

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum engages in a complex relationship with bacterial endosymbionts in the genus Paraburkholderia, which can benefit their host by imbuing it with the ability to carry prey bacteria throughout its life cycle. The relationship between D. discoideum and Paraburkholderia has been shown to take place across many strains and a large geographical area, but little is known about Paraburkholderia's potential interaction with other dictyostelid species. We explore the ability of three Paraburkholderia species to stably infect and induce bacterial carriage in other dictyostelid hosts. We found that all three Paraburkholderia species successfully infected and induced carriage in seven species of Dictyostelium hosts. While the overall behaviour was qualitatively similar to that previously observed in infections of D. discoideum, differences in the outcomes of different host/symbiont combinations suggest a degree of specialization between partners. Paraburkholderia was unable to maintain a stable association with the more distantly related host Polysphondylium violaceum. Our results suggest that the mechanisms and evolutionary history of Paraburkholderia's symbiotic relationships may be general within Dictyostelium hosts, but not so general that it can associate with hosts of other genera. Our work further develops an emerging model system for the study of symbiosis in microbes.

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum rescues Paraburkholderia hayleyella, but not P. agricolaris, from interspecific competition

Bacterial endosymbionts can provide benefits for their eukaryotic hosts, but it is often unclear if endosymbionts benefit from these relationships. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum associates with three species of Paraburkholderia endosymbionts, including P. agricolaris and P. hayleyella. These endosymbionts can be costly to the host but are beneficial in certain contexts because they allow D. discoideum to carry prey bacteria through the dispersal stage. In experiments where no other species are present, P. hayleyella benefits from D. discoideum while P. agricolaris does not. However, the presence of other species may influence this symbiosis. We tested if P. agricolaris and P. hayleyella benefit from D. discoideum in the context of resource competition with Klebsiella pneumoniae, the typical laboratory prey of D. discoideum. Without D. discoideum, K. pneumoniae depressed the growth of both Paraburkholderia symbionts, consistent with competition. P. hayleyella was more harmed by interspecific competition than P. agricolaris. We found that P. hayleyella was rescued from competition by D. discoideum, while P. agricolaris was not. This may be because P. hayleyella is more specialized as an endosymbiont; it has a highly reduced genome compared to P. agricolaris and may have lost genes relevant for resource competition outside of its host.

Environmental stress promotes the persistence of facultative bacterial symbionts in amoebae

Amoebae are one major group of protists that are widely found in natural and engineered environments. They are a significant threat to human health not only because many of them are pathogenic but also due to their unique role as an environmental shelter for pathogens. However, one unsolved issue in the amoeba-bacteria relationship is why so many bacteria live within amoeba hosts while they can also live independently in the environments. By using a facultative amoeba- Paraburkholderia bacteria system, this study shows that facultative bacteria have higher survival rates within amoebae under various environmental stressors. In addition, bacteria survive longer within the amoeba spore than in free living. This study demonstrates that environmental stress can promote the persistence of facultative bacterial symbionts in amoebae. Furthermore, environmental stress may potentially select and produce more amoeba-resisting bacteria, which may increase the biosafety risk related to amoebae and their intracellular bacteria.

Reduced and Nonreduced Genomes in Paraburkholderia Symbionts of Social Amoebas

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a predatory soil protist frequently used for studying host-pathogen interactions. A subset of D. discoideum strains isolated from soil persistently carry symbiotic Paraburkholderia, recently formally described as P. agricolaris, P. bonniea, and P. hayleyella. The three facultative symbiont species of D. discoideum present a unique opportunity to study a naturally occurring symbiosis in a laboratory model protist. There is a large difference in genome size between P. agricolaris (8.7 million base pairs [Mbp]) versus P. hayleyella and P. bonniea (4.1 Mbp). We took a comparative genomics approach and compared the three genomes of D. discoideum symbionts to 12 additional Paraburkholderia genomes to test for genome evolution patterns that frequently accompany host adaptation. Overall, P. agricolaris is difficult to distinguish from other Paraburkholderia based on its genome size and content, but the reduced genomes of P. bonniea and P. hayleyella display characteristics indicative of genome streamlining rather than deterioration during adaptation to their protist hosts. In addition, D. discoideum-symbiont genomes have increased secretion system and motility genes that may mediate interactions with their host. Specifically, adjacent BurBor-like type 3 and T6SS-5-like type 6 secretion system operons shared among all three D. discoideum-symbiont genomes may be important for host interaction. Horizontal transfer of these secretion system operons within the amoeba host environment may have contributed to the unique ability of these symbionts to establish and maintain a symbiotic relationship with D. discoideum. IMPORTANCE Protists are a diverse group of typically single cell eukaryotes. Bacteria and archaea that form long-term symbiotic relationships with protists may evolve in additional ways than those in relationships with multicellular eukaryotes such as plants, animals, or fungi. Social amoebas are a predatory soil protist sometimes found with symbiotic bacteria living inside their cells. They present a unique opportunity to explore a naturally occurring symbiosis in a protist frequently used for studying host-pathogen interactions. We show that one amoeba-symbiont species is similar to other related bacteria in genome size and content, while the two reduced-genome-symbiont species show characteristics of genome streamlining rather than deterioration during adaptation to their host. We also identify sets of genes present in all three amoeba-symbiont genomes that are potentially used for host-symbiont interactions. Because the amoeba symbionts are distantly related, the amoeba host environment may be where these genes were shared among symbionts.

A bacterial endosymbiont of the fungus Rhizopus microsporus drives phagocyte evasion and opportunistic virulence

Opportunistic infections by environmental fungi are a growing clinical problem, driven by an increasing population of people with immunocompromising conditions. Spores of the Mucorales order are ubiquitous in the environment but can also cause acute invasive infections in humans through germination and evasion of the mammalian host immune system. How they achieve this and the evolutionary drivers underlying the acquisition of virulence mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we show that a clinical isolate of Rhizopus microsporus contains a Ralstonia pickettii bacterial endosymbiont required for virulence in both zebrafish and mice and that this endosymbiosis enables the secretion of factors that potently suppress growth of the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, as well as their ability to engulf and kill other microbes. As amoebas are natural environmental predators of both bacteria and fungi, we propose that this tri-kingdom interaction contributes to establishing endosymbiosis and the acquisition of anti-phagocyte activity. Importantly, we show that this activity also protects fungal spores from phagocytosis and clearance by human macrophages, and endosymbiont removal renders the fungal spores avirulent in vivo. Together, these findings describe a new role for a bacterial endosymbiont in Rhizopus microsporus pathogenesis in animals and suggest a mechanism of virulence acquisition through environmental interactions with amoebas.

Inference of symbiotic adaptations in nature using experimental evolution

Microbes must adapt to the presence of other species, but it can be difficult to recreate the natural context for these interactions in the laboratory. We describe a method for inferring the existence of symbiotic adaptations by experimentally evolving microbes that would normally interact in an artificial environment without access to other species. By looking for changes in the fitness effects microbes adapted to isolation have on their partners, we can infer the existence of ancestral adaptations that were lost during experimental evolution. The direction and magnitude of trait changes can offer useful insight as to whether the microbes have historically been selected to help or harm one another in nature. We apply our method to the complex symbiosis between the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and two intracellular bacterial endosymbionts, Paraburkholderia agricolaris and Paraburkholderia hayleyella. Our results suggest P. hayleyella-but not P. agricolaris-has generally been selected to attenuate its virulence in nature, and that D. discoideum has evolved to antagonistically limit the growth of Paraburkholderia. The approach demonstrated here can be a powerful tool for studying adaptations in microbes, particularly when the specific natural context in which the adaptations evolved is unknown or hard to reproduce.

The Ecology and Evolution of Amoeba-Bacterium Interactions

Amoebae are protists that have complicated relationships with bacteria, covering the whole spectrum of symbiosis. Amoeba-bacterium interactions contribute to the study of predation, symbiosis, pathogenesis, and human health. Given the complexity of their relationships, it is necessary to understand the ecology and evolution of their interactions. In this paper, we provide an updated review of the current understanding of amoeba-bacterium interactions. We start by discussing the diversity of amoebae and their bacterial partners. We also define three types of ecological interactions between amoebae and bacteria and discuss their different outcomes. Finally, we focus on the implications of amoeba-bacterium interactions on human health, horizontal gene transfer, drinking water safety, and the evolution of symbiosis. In conclusion, amoeba-bacterium interactions are excellent model systems to investigate a wide range of scientific questions. Future studies should utilize advanced techniques to address research gaps, such as detecting hidden diversity, lack of amoeba genomes, and the impacts of amoeba predation on the microbiome.

Paraburkholderia Symbionts Display Variable Infection Patterns That Are Not Predictive of Amoeba Host Outcomes

Symbiotic interactions exist within a parasitism to mutualism continuum that is influenced, among others, by genes and context. Dynamics of intracellular invasion, replication, and prevalence may underscore both host survivability and symbiont stability. More infectious symbionts might exert higher corresponding costs to hosts, which could ultimately disadvantage both partners. Here, we quantify infection patterns of diverse Paraburkholderia symbiont genotypes in their amoeba host Dictyostelium discoideum and probe the relationship between these patterns and host outcomes. We exposed D. discoideum to thirteen strains of Paraburkholderia each belonging to one of the three symbiont species found to naturally infect D. discoideum: Paraburkholderia agricolaris, Paraburkholderia hayleyella, and Paraburkholderia bonniea. We quantified the infection prevalence and intracellular density of fluorescently labeled symbionts along with the final host population size using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. We find that infection phenotypes vary across symbiont strains. Symbionts belonging to the same species generally display similar infection patterns but are interestingly distinct when it comes to host outcomes. This results in final infection loads that do not strongly correlate to final host outcomes, suggesting other genetic factors that are not a direct cause or consequence of symbiont abundance impact host fitness.