More than the "Killer Trait": Infection with the Bacterial Endosymbiont Caedibacter taeniospiralis Causes Transcriptomic Modulation in Paramecium Host.

ABSTRACT: Endosymbiosis is a widespread phenomenon and hosts of bacterial endosymbionts can be found all-over the eukaryotic tree of life. Likely, this evolutionary success is connected to the altered phenotype arising from a symbiotic association. The potential variety of symbiont's contributions to new characteristics or abilities of host organisms are largely unstudied. Addressing this aspect, we focused on an obligate bacterial endosymbiont that confers an intraspecific killer phenotype to its host. The symbiosis between Paramecium tetraurelia and Caedibacter taeniospiralis, living in the host's cytoplasm, enables the infected paramecia to release Caedibacter symbionts, which can simultaneously produce a peculiar protein structure and a toxin. The ingestion of bacteria that harbor both component

SUBMITTER: Grosser K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5814942 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature