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Abstract

In recent years, it has become common knowledge that we,
and the many organisms around us, are symbiotic crea-
tures, harbouring large numbers of internal and external
microbial residents. Research on symbiosis has progressed
remarkably since the days of van Leeuwenhoek and
de Bary, whose discoveries paved the way for over two
centuries of fascinating work. Indeed, since their findings
on bacteria in human mouths and algal-fungal partnerships
that constitute lichens, we have discovered that microbial
symbionts have shaped the make-up of the eukaryotic cell
and that they continue to influence growth, development,
energy metabolism, nutrition, digestion and defence of
eukaryotes from across the globe (Wernegreen 2012;
McFall-Ngai
et al.
2013). It is now widely understood that
microbial symbionts are important sources of innovation
across eukaryotes, making symbiosis one of the hallmarks
of eukaryotic biology.