Simultaneous Single-Cell Genome and Transcriptome Sequencing of Termite Hindgut Protists Reveals Metabolic and Evolutionary Traits of Their Endosymbionts.

ABSTRACT: Some of the protist species which colonize the hindguts of wood-feeding Reticulitermes termites are associated with endosymbiotic bacteria belonging to the genus Endomicrobium. In this study, we focused on the endosymbionts of three protist species from Reticulitermes flavipes, as follows: Pyrsonympha vertens, Trichonympha agilis, and Dinenympha species II. Since these protist hosts represented members of different taxa which colonize separate niches within the hindguts of their termite hosts, we investigated if these differences translated to differential gene content and expression in their endosymbionts. Following assembly and comparative genome and transcriptome analyses, we discovered that these endosymbionts differed with respect to some possible niche-specific t

SUBMITTER: Stephens ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8809381 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature