Ep 18: Bug in the system (John McCutcheon)

How can cicadas eat nothing but tree sap for 17 years? How do endosymbiotic relationships evolve? What do bacteria-insect symbioses teach us about the evolution of mitochondria and chloroplasts?

On this episode, Art and Marty talk with John McCutcheon, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Montana. John studies symbioses between bacteria and cicadas—exploring what each partner provides for the other, how cicadas transmit bacteria to their offspring, and what the consequences are for the evolution of bacterial genomes (hint: they are extreme!). This research raises basic questions about what an individual even is.

Follow John on Twitter: @mcsymbiont

We interviewed John in front of a live audience at the Missoula Insectarium. If you’d like to host a Big Biology event, please email us at info@bigbiology.org!

Cover image courtesy of Piotr Łukasik and James T. Van Leuven.