Chemosynthetic symbiont with a drastically reduced genome serves as primary energy storage in the marine flatworm Paracatenula.

ABSTRACT: Hosts of chemoautotrophic bacteria typically have much higher biomass than their symbionts and consume symbiont cells for nutrition. In contrast to this, chemoautotrophic Candidatus Riegeria symbionts in mouthless Paracatenula flatworms comprise up to half of the biomass of the consortium. Each species of Paracatenula harbors a specific Ca Riegeria, and the endosymbionts have been vertically transmitted for at least 500 million years. Such prolonged strict vertical transmission leads to streamlining of symbiont genomes, and the retained physiological capacities reveal the functions the symbionts provide to their hosts. Here, we studied a species of Paracatenula from Sant'Andrea, Elba, Italy, using genomics, gene expression, imaging analyses, as well as ta

SUBMITTER: Jackle O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6486704 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature