Earthworm symbiont Verminephrobacter eiseniae mediates natural transformation within host egg capsules using type IV pili.

ABSTRACT: The dense microbial communities commonly associated with plants and animals should offer many opportunities for horizontal gene transfer through described mechanisms of DNA exchange including natural transformation (NT). However, studies of the significance of NT have focused primarily on pathogens. The study presented here demonstrates highly efficient DNA exchange by NT in a common symbiont of earthworms. The obligate bacterial symbiont Verminephrobacter eiseniae is a member of a microbial consortium of the earthworm Eisenia fetida that is transmitted into the egg capsules to colonize the embryonic worms. In the study presented here, by testing for transformants under different conditions in culture, we demonstrate that V. eiseniae can incorporate free DNA from the environment, that comp

SUBMITTER: Davidson SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4212676 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature