title: Sexual transmission of beneficial microbes.
abstract: Beneficial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are an understudied phenomenon with important implications for the evolution of cooperation and host reproductive behavior. Challenging the prevailing expectation that sexual transmission leads to pathogenesis, these symbionts provide new opportunities to examine how STIs might influence sexual selection and the evolution of promiscuity.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Integrative Biology, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Electronic address: chadsmith@utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Chad C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Integrative Biology, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Ulrich G
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Mueller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000382:microbiology; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D005075:Biological Evolution; D009033:Culicidae / Q000382:microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D013559:Symbiosis
keywords: microbiome; mutualism; polyandry; sexual selection; sexual transmission; symbiosis