Phylogenetic Diversity, Distribution, and Cophylogeny of Giant Bacteria (Epulopiscium) with their Surgeonfish Hosts in the Red Sea.

ABSTRACT: Epulopiscium is a group of giant bacteria found in high abundance in intestinal tracts of herbivorous surgeonfish. Despite their peculiarly large cell size (can be up to 600 μm), extreme polyploidy (some with over 100,000 genome copies per cell) and viviparity (whereby mother cells produce live offspring), details about their diversity, distribution or their role in the host gut are lacking. Previous studies have highlighted the existence of morphologically distinct Epulopiscium cell types (defined as morphotypes A to J) in some surgeonfish genera, but the corresponding genetic diversity and distribution among other surgeonfishes remain mostly unknown. Therefore, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of Epulopiscium, distribution and co-occurrence in multiple hosts. Here, we identifie

SUBMITTER: Miyake S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4789555 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature