Joani Viliunas

Keywords evolution obligate symbiosis biosynthesis chemical ecology cell biology behavior irreversibility ants rove beetles Get full text access Log in, subscribe or purchase for full access. References 1. Margulis, L. Origin of Eukaryotic Cells: Evidence and Research Implications for a Theory of the Origin and Evolution of Microbial, Plant, and Animal Cells on the Precambrian Earth Yale University Press, 1970 2. Casadevall, A. Evolution of Intracellular Pathogens Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 2008; 62:19-33 3.

Abstract Symbiotic organisms frequently evolve obligate dependencies on hosts, but the evolutionary changes that entrench such lifestyles are poorly understood. Ant societies are vulnerable to parasitic "myrmecophiles": impostor species that infiltrate colonies and are often unable to survive outside of them. Here we show that obligate dependence of a myrmecophile on its host arises from irreversibility of the fundamental steps that achieve social acceptance inside the nest.

Abstract In this research, we investigated how alcohol modulates the simplest form of learning, habituation, in Caenorhabditis elegans. We used our high throughput Multi-Worm Tracker to conduct a large scale study of more than 21,000 wild-type worms to assess the effects of different doses of alcohol on habituation of the well-characterized tap withdrawal response.