The impacts of Paraburkholderia symbionts on the Dictyostelium discoideum microbiome

Social amoebae have proven to be useful model organisms for studying symbiotic interactions with bacteria. One popular model ameoba, Dictyostelium discoideum, harbors unique Paraburkholderia symbionts that allow it to carry food bacteria within it's fruiting body. This phenomenon was proposed to be an account of "farming," and was proposed to be beneficial because amoeba could seed the soil with carried bacteria if they relocated to an area that was already depleted. However, this interaction has primarily been described via laboratory experimentation and is lacking in natural context. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the microbiomes of D. discoideum naturally infected with Paraburkholderia to those that were naturally uninfected in order to look for evidence of farming in nature.