Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Matryoshka dolls, more commonly known as Russian or babushka dolls, are a set of wooden figures nested into each other. The outer doll often displays a female wearing a safaran, a long, traditional Russian folk costume likely dating back to the 14th century. Inside it, the dolls may be male or female, with the smallest of them typically being a baby made out of solid wood. One cannot help but think about matryoshka dolls when looking at biology, and in particular, oddities such as the mealybug symbiosis (Husnik and McCutcheon, 2016; Szabo et al., 2017), where a symbiont is contained within a symbiont residing in yet another cell. Previous Crystal Balls have nicely discussed symbiosis from different angles and we do not intend to rehash any of these fascinating discussions and viewpoints. Instead, we provide a perspective on the biological entities (cells and/or particles) physically contained within single microbial cells. Endosymbiosis, in the sense of endocytobiosis, is the most intimate form of symbiosis, as defined by one symbiotic partner (endosymbiont) being housed intracellularly within the second symbiotic partner (host).
Authors: Tanja Woyke, Frederik Schulz
Institution: Joint Genome Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Insect Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,300
Award: G42916606
OpenAlex ID: W2906700016