Social wasps are a saccharomyces mating nest

Despite the widespread interest on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, its wild lifestyle is far from being completely understood, with one of the most resounding examples being its sexual attitude. We show that the intestine of social wasps favors the mating of Saccharomyces strains by providing a succession of environmental conditions prompting sporulation and germination. We also demonstrate that the insect intestine favors hybridization of S. cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus. Although S. paradoxus survives in wild environments and rarely mates with S. cerevisiae, we discover that two European S. paradoxus strains cannot survive the wasp's intestinal environment but can be rescued through interspecific hybridization with S. cerevisiae. These findings are introducing insects as environmental alcoves in which yeast cells can meet and mate.