The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis
Almost all Lumbricid earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) harbor extracellular species-specific bacterial symbionts of the genus Verminephrobacter (Betaproteobacteria) in their nephridia. The symbionts have a beneficial effect on host reproduction and likely live on their host’s waste products. The...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00128/full |
| _version_ | 1819136587778228224 |
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| author | Marie Braad Lund Kasper Urup Kjeldsen Andreas eSchramm |
| author_facet | Marie Braad Lund Kasper Urup Kjeldsen Andreas eSchramm |
| author_sort | Marie Braad Lund |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Almost all Lumbricid earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) harbor extracellular species-specific bacterial symbionts of the genus Verminephrobacter (Betaproteobacteria) in their nephridia. The symbionts have a beneficial effect on host reproduction and likely live on their host’s waste products. They are vertically transmitted and presumably associated with earthworms already at the origin of Lumbricidae 62 – 136 million years ago. The Verminephrobacter genomes carry signs of bottleneck-induced genetic drift, such as accelerated evolutionary rates, low codon usage bias, and extensive genome shuffling, which are characteristic of vertically transmitted intracellular symbionts. However, the Verminephrobacter genomes lack AT bias, size reduction, and pseudogenization, which are also common genomic hallmarks of vertically transmitted, intracellular symbionts. We propose that the opportunity for genetic mixing during part of the host – symbiont life cycle is the key to evade drift-induced genome erosion. Furthermore, we suggest the earthworm-Verminephrobacter association as new experimental system for investigating host-microbe interactions, and especially for understanding genome evolution of vertically transmitted symbionts in the presence of genetic mixing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T10:37:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b32a516668be4ca2be8bb3f26d035e6b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T10:37:21Z |
| publishDate | 2014-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b32a516668be4ca2be8bb3f26d035e6b2022-12-21T18:29:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2014-03-01510.3389/fmicb.2014.0012880323The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosisMarie Braad Lund0Kasper Urup Kjeldsen1Andreas eSchramm2Aarhus UniversityAarhus University, Bioscience, Section for Microbiology, Center for GeomicrobiologyAarhus University, Bioscience, Section for MicrobiologyAlmost all Lumbricid earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) harbor extracellular species-specific bacterial symbionts of the genus Verminephrobacter (Betaproteobacteria) in their nephridia. The symbionts have a beneficial effect on host reproduction and likely live on their host’s waste products. They are vertically transmitted and presumably associated with earthworms already at the origin of Lumbricidae 62 – 136 million years ago. The Verminephrobacter genomes carry signs of bottleneck-induced genetic drift, such as accelerated evolutionary rates, low codon usage bias, and extensive genome shuffling, which are characteristic of vertically transmitted intracellular symbionts. However, the Verminephrobacter genomes lack AT bias, size reduction, and pseudogenization, which are also common genomic hallmarks of vertically transmitted, intracellular symbionts. We propose that the opportunity for genetic mixing during part of the host – symbiont life cycle is the key to evade drift-induced genome erosion. Furthermore, we suggest the earthworm-Verminephrobacter association as new experimental system for investigating host-microbe interactions, and especially for understanding genome evolution of vertically transmitted symbionts in the presence of genetic mixing.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00128/fullSymbiosisgenome evolutionearthwormsHost-Symbiont Interactionsverminephrobacternephridia |
| spellingShingle | Marie Braad Lund Kasper Urup Kjeldsen Andreas eSchramm The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis Frontiers in Microbiology Symbiosis genome evolution earthworms Host-Symbiont Interactions verminephrobacter nephridia |
| title | The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| title_full | The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| title_fullStr | The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| title_short | The earthworm – Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| title_sort | earthworm verminephrobacter symbiosis an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis |
| topic | Symbiosis genome evolution earthworms Host-Symbiont Interactions verminephrobacter nephridia |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00128/full |
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