Shrinking in the dark: Parallel endosymbiont genome erosions are associated with repeated host transitions to an underground life

Abstract

Microbial symbioses have had profound impacts on the evolution of animals. Conversely, changes in host biology may impact the evolutionary trajectory of symbionts themselves. Blattabacterium cuenoti is present in almost all cockroach species and enables hosts to subsist on a nutrient-poor diet. To investigate if host biology has impacted Blattabacterium at the genomic level, we sequenced and analysed 25 genomes from Australian soil-burrowing cockroaches (Blaberidae: Panesthiinae) which have undergone at least seven independent subterranean transitions from above-ground, wood-feeding ancestors. We find at least three independent instances of genome erosion have occurred in Blattabacterium strains exclusive to Australian soil-burrowing cockroaches. Such shrinkages have involved the repeated inactivation of genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and nitrogen recycling, the core role of Blattabacterium in the host-symbiont relationship. The most drastic of these erosions have occurred in hosts thought to have transitioned underground the earliest relative to other lineages. As Blattabacterium is unable to fulfil its core function in such host groups, our findings suggest soil-burrowing cockroaches must acquire these nutrients from novel sources. Our study represents one of the first cases, to our knowledge, of parallel host adaptations leading to concomitant parallelism in their mutualistic symbionts, further underscoring the intimate relationship between these two partners.