Endosymbiotic Bacteroidales bacteria of the flagellated protist Pseudotrichonympha grassii in the gut of the termite Coptotermes formosanus.

ABSTRACT: A unique lineage of bacteria belonging to the order Bacteroidales was identified as an intracellular endosymbiont of the protist Pseudotrichonympha grassii (Parabasalia, Hypermastigea) in the gut of the termite Coptotermes formosanus. We identified the 16S rRNA, gyrB, elongation factor Tu, and groEL gene sequences in the endosymbiont and detected a very low level of sequence divergence (<0.9% of the nucleotides) in the endosymbiont population within and among protist cells. The Bacteroidales endosymbiont sequence was affiliated with a cluster comprising only sequences from termite gut bacteria and was not closely related to sequences identified for members of the Bacteroidales attached to the cell surfaces of other gut protists. Transmission electron microscopy showed that there were numer

SUBMITTER: Noda S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1317455 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature