Assume that the transmission of antibiotic-producing bacteria that live as mutualists with leaf cutter ants is strictly vertical (i.e., bacteria are only transmitted from queens to their offspring). What would you expect the topology of a phylogeny for the bacteria to look like relative to the phylogeny of their ant partners?
A) The topologies should not correspond more than would be expected under a random model.
B) The topologies should closely correspond to one another.
C) The topologies should correspond less than would be expected under a random model.
D) Deep nodes will correspond, but not nodes that are located toward the tips of the tree.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the transmission of antibiotic-producing bacteria is strictly vertical, we would expect the topology of the bacteria phylogeny to closely correspond to the phylogeny of their ant partners because the bacteria pass from one generation to another with the ant lineage. Therefore, we would expect to see a strong pattern of cospeciation where the bacterial tree reflects the branching pattern of their ant partners.

Assume That the Transmission of Antibiotic-Producing Bacteria That Live as Mutualists