Genomes of two archaeal endosymbionts show convergent adaptations to an intracellular lifestyle.

ABSTRACT: Endosymbiosis is a widespread phenomenon in the microbial world and can be based on diverse interactions between endosymbiont and host cell. The vast majority of the known endosymbiotic interactions involve bacteria that have invaded eukaryotic host cells. However, methanogenic archaea have been found to thrive in anaerobic, hydrogenosome-containing protists and it was suggested that this symbiosis is based on the transfer of hydrogen. Here, we used culture-independent genomics approaches to sequence the genomes of two distantly related methanogenic endosymbionts that have been acquired in two independent events by closely related anaerobic ciliate hosts Nyctotherus ovalis and Metopus contortus, respectively. The sequences obtained were then validated as originating from the ciliate endosy

SUBMITTER: Lind AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6194110 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature