About the Authors

Jessamyn I. Perlmutter

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

jperlmutter16@hotmail.com (JIP); s.bordenstein@vanderbilt.edu (SRB)

Affiliations Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

Sarah R. Bordenstein

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

Robert L. Unckless

Roles Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America

Daniel P. LePage

Roles Investigation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

Jason A. Metcalf

Roles Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United State of America

Tom Hill

Roles Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America

Julien Martinez

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Francis M. Jiggins

Roles Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Seth R. Bordenstein

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

jperlmutter16@hotmail.com (JIP); s.bordenstein@vanderbilt.edu (SRB)

Affiliations Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America, Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

Competing Interests

J.I.P. and Seth R.B. are listed as inventors on a patent related to potential applications of wmk in arthropods.