Data related to "Different defensive symbionts can co-colonize Lagria villosa beetles simultaneously and successively"

When multiple symbiont strains co-occur, symbiont-symbiont interactions and host regulation can influence the colonization outcome, but knowledge on the dynamics of co-colonization remains limited. In Lagria villosa beetles, two distinct strains of the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli can defend the beetle offspring against fungal infestation.

The genome-reduced, metabolically limited strain Lv-StB dominates the natural community, while the metabolically potent strain (Lv-StA) takes over during laboratory rearing. We aimed to elucidate the strain interactions during early colonization of specialized organs in larvae, by allowing the two strains to colonize individually or in combination. Both strains colonized the host equally well when simultaneously present on the egg surface.