Spot test and spore count assay data for combinations of dictyostelid hosts infected by Paraburkholderia spp.

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