symbiont

American  

[sim-bee-ont, -bahy-] / ˈsɪm biˌɒnt, -baɪ- /

Also symbiote

noun

Biology.

1. an organism living in a state of symbiosis.

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symbiont British  

/ ˈsɪmbɪˌɒnt /

noun

1. an organism living in a state of symbiosis

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symbiont Scientific  

/ sĭm′bē-ŏnt′,-bī- /

1. An organism in a symbiotic relationship. In cases in which a distinction is made between two interacting organisms, the symbiont is the smaller of the two and is always a beneficiary in the relationship, while the larger organism is the host and may or may not derive a benefit.

2. See also host parasite

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Other Word Forms

• symbiontic adjective
• symbiontically adverb

Etymology

Origin of symbiont

1885–90; < Greek symbiont- (stem of symbiṓn ), present participle of symbioûn “to live together”; symbiosis, onto-

Example Sentences

The microsporidian symbiont, Microsporidia MB, occurs naturally in the insect and doesn’t seem to harm them.

From Nature

“We are a symbiont of bacteria, fungi and human cells all hanging out together,” Dalman says.

From Washington Post

But working quickly allowed the team, known as the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Collaborative Biodiversity Group, to identify, photograph and begin the process of sequencing the DNA of the animals and their bacterial symbionts right away.

From New York Times

“Some shipworms have as many as ten different symbiont species,” Dr. Distel said.

From New York Times

It's not yet clear what this could mean for other reef environments in danger of bleaching, but lead author Maha Cziesielski says that swapping to a different algae species is something corals already do in nature: "It's quite common... it's called symbiont shuffling. Association with more 'thermotolerant' algae can play a very important role in adapting to warmer environments," she told BBC News.

From BBC