Friends or foes: Unraveling the tsetse fly-Spiroplasma symbiosis
Serap Aksoy, Brian L. Weiss, Daniel J. Bruzzese, Fabian Gstöttenmayer, Richard Echodu, Giulia Fiorenza, Riccardo Piccinno, Anna Rodolfa Malacrida, Adly M. M. Abd-Alla · 2026
Read Friends or foes: Unraveling the tsetse fly-Spiroplasma symbiosis by Serap Aksoy, Brian L. Weiss, Daniel J. Bruzzese, Fabian Gstöttenmayer, Richard Echodu, Giulia Fiorenza, Riccardo Piccinno, Anna Rodolfa Malacrida, Adly M. M. Abd-Alla (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13561350.txt.
Description
Serap Aksoy and colleagues review the symbiosis between tsetse flies and Spiroplasma bacteria. Their 2026 paper asks whether the microbe is friend or foe. Tsetse flies spread the parasites behind sleeping sickness in people and animals. Those diseases burden health and farming across sub-Saharan Africa. Inherited microbes inside the fly can shift its fitness and carrying power.
The bacterium Spiroplasma glossinidia recently emerged as a key modulator. It affects tsetse reproduction and how well flies transmit parasites. The review tracks infection patterns in lab and wild fly populations. Genome and family tree facts about the bacterium are summarized. Its effects on host gene activity are also covered. Symbiont-based control of tsetse is the long-term prize.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Serap Aksoy, Brian L. Weiss, Daniel J. Bruzzese, Fabian Gstöttenmayer, Richard Echodu, Giulia Fiorenza, Riccardo Piccinno, Anna Rodolfa Malacrida, Adly M. M. Abd-Alla |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 49 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |