Experimental evolution of a pathogen confronted with innate immune memory increases variation in virulence

The goal is to assess the influence of innate immune priming in the Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum, on the evolutionary trajectory of its entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis (Btt). For this purpose, Btt was passaged 8 times through either control or primed T. castaneum larvae. Finally, phenotypic measures such as sporulation and virulence were taken and whole genome sequencing was performed to compare the control and priming evolved lines, to one another, and the ancestral line.