title: Comment on "The hologenomic basis of speciation: gut bacteria cause hybrid lethality in the genus Nasonia".
abstract: Brucker and Bordenstein (Reports, 9 August 2013, p. 667) claim that adaptive codivergence of gut bacteria with hosts contributes to hybrid lethality. Yet, they provide no evidence for coadaptation of bacteria and Nasonia hosts. Their data on hybrid viability suggest that bacteria contribute to inviability only because intrinsic hybrid dysfunction increases susceptibility to free-living bacteria. Hologenomic speciation remains testable speculation without experimental support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
authors.forename: James Angus
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. mturelli@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D005856:Germ-Free Life / Q000502:physiology*; D006927:Hymenoptera / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis