Genome reduction and horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of Endomicrobia-rise and fall of an intracellular symbiosis with termite gut flagellates.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial endosymbionts of eukaryotic hosts typically experience massive genome reduction, but the underlying evolutionary processes are often obscured by the lack of free-living relatives. Endomicrobia, a family-level lineage of host-associated bacteria in the phylum Elusimicrobiota that comprises both free-living representatives and endosymbionts of termite gut flagellates, are an excellent model to study evolution of intracellular symbionts. We reconstructed 67 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of Endomicrobiaceae among more than 1,700 MAGs from the gut microbiota of a wide range of termites. Phylogenomic analysis confirmed a sister position of representatives from termites and ruminants, and allowed to propose eight new genera in the radiation of Endomicrobiaceae

SUBMITTER: Mies US 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11257099 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature