Anaerobic fungi in the tortoise alimentary tract illuminate early stages of host-fungal symbiosis and Neocallimastigomycota evolution.

ABSTRACT: Anaerobic gut fungi (AGF, Neocallimastigomycota) reside in the alimentary tract of herbivores. While their presence in mammals is well documented, evidence for their occurrence in non-mammalian hosts is currently sparse. Culture-independent surveys of AGF in tortoises identified a unique community, with three novel deep-branching genera representing >90% of sequences in most samples. Representatives of all genera were successfully isolated under strict anaerobic conditions. Transcriptomics-enabled phylogenomic and molecular dating analyses indicated an ancient, deep-branching position in the AGF tree for these genera, with an evolutionary divergence time estimate of 104-112 million years ago (Mya). Such estimates push the establishment of animal-Neocallimastigomycota symbiosis from the lat

SUBMITTER: Pratt CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10978972 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature