Tetrahymena phagocytic vesicles as ecological micro-niches of phage transfer

Abstract The microbial communities in natural environments such as soil, pond water, or animal rumens are composed of a diverse mixture of bacteria and protozoa including ciliates or flagellates. In such microbiomes, a major source of bacterial mortality is grazing by phagocytic protists. Many proti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology ecology 2017-04, Vol.93 (4), p.1
Main Authors: Aijaz, Iqbal, Koudelka, Gerald B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteria
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteriophages
Bacteriophages - genetics
Bacteriophages - physiology
Cell organelles
Ciliates
Ecology
Eukaryota
Feeding
Flagellates
Fresh Water
Genetic aspects
Genetic transformation
Heterotrophs
Imports
Ingestion
Microbial activity
Microbiological research
Microbiology
Microbiomes
Microorganisms
Niches
Phages
Phagocytes
Phagocytosis
Physiological aspects
Prophages
Protozoa
Soil water
Strains (organisms)
Tetrahymena thermophila
Vesicles
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Summary:Abstract The microbial communities in natural environments such as soil, pond water, or animal rumens are composed of a diverse mixture of bacteria and protozoa including ciliates or flagellates. In such microbiomes, a major source of bacterial mortality is grazing by phagocytic protists. Many protists are omnivorous heterotrophs, feeding on a range of different bacterial species. Due to this indiscriminate feeding, different bacterial species can assemble together in the same phagocytic vesicles where they can potentially exchange genetic material. Here we show that Tetrahymena thermophila imports and accumulates phage donor and recipient bacterial strains in its phagocytic vesicles and that under laboratory conditions the ingested bacteria remain viable for ≥2 h. Prophages in the ingested bacteria induce immediately after ingestion, and the released phages are concentrated in the phagocytic vesicles of the ciliate. These phages retain their ability to infect phage-susceptible bacterial strains. As a consequence of being confined within the phagosome, the frequency of lysogen formation in these vesicles increases 6-fold as compared with the bulk solution. Collectively, these observations suggest that T. thermophila aids in dissemination of bacteriophages by accumulating susceptible bacteria and phages in their phagocytic vesicles. Ingestion by protists promotes transfer of bacteriophages between internalized bacteria.
ISSN:1574-6941
0168-6496
1574-6941
DOI:10.1093/femsec/fix030