An advantage of using synthetic, or engineered, consortia for studies of this nature is that complex communal behaviors such as symbiosis can be implemented under defined and tunable experimental control [9], [19] [21].
We found that individuals in the region with dispersed vegetation recorded ranging movements and communal roosting behavior ten times larger than the region with concentrated vegetation.
A recent outbreak of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, which caused local extinctions of the little brown bat populations in North America, was facilitated by their communal roosting behavior (Frick et al. 2010).
It would be interesting to study RNase genes of other microbat species to test whether the bursts of duplication of these three RNase genes are associated with the origin of the communal roosting behavior.
In line with this hypothesis, the large flying fox (P. vampyrus), which does not have such communal roosting behavior, has just one gene for RNase1, RNase4, and RNase5 (supplementary fig. S4, Supplementary Material online).
Exemplifying this, bursts of gene duplication occurred for the RNase1, RNase4, and RNase5 genes of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), which might have contributed to the species' effective defense against heavier pathogen loads caused by its communal roosting behavior.
For example, an opportunistic pathogenic fungus was recently identified in a declining population of timber rattlesnakes (38 ), and susceptibility to outbreaks of fungal disease might be predicted for this and similar species given their communal denning behavior and potential for lowered immune function during hibernation.
Myxobacteria form spores and fruiting bodies in response to unfavorable conditions, and use gliding motility and communal wolf pack behavior for predatory lifestyle [11], [12].
