Intranuclear verrucomicrobial symbionts and evidence of lateral gene transfer to the host protist in the termite gut.

ABSTRACT: In 1944, Harold Kirby described microorganisms living within nuclei of the protists Trichonympha in guts of termites; however, their taxonomic assignment remains to be accomplished. Here, we identified intranuclear symbionts of Trichonympha agilis in the gut of the termite Reticulitermes speratus. We isolated single nuclei of T. agilis, performed whole-genome amplification, and obtained bacterial 16S rRNA genes by PCR. Unexpectedly, however, all of the analyzed clones were from pseudogenes of 16S rRNA with large deletions and numerous sequence variations even within a single-nucleus sample. Authentic 16S rRNA gene sequences were finally recovered by digesting the nuclear DNA; these pseudogenes were present on the host Trichonympha genome. The authentic sequences represented two distinct ba

SUBMITTER: Sato T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3996698 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature