A novel intracellular mutualistic bacterium in the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior

The evolution of eukaryotic organisms is often strongly influenced by microbial symbionts that confer novel traits to their hosts. Here we describe the intracellular Enterobacteriaceae symbiont of the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior , ‘ Candidatus Westeberhardia cardiocondylae’. Upon metamorpho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The ISME Journal 2016-02, Vol.10 (2), p.376-388
Main Authors: Klein, Antonia, Schrader, Lukas, Gil, Rosario, Manzano-Marín, Alejandro, Flórez, Laura, Wheeler, David, Werren, John H, Latorre, Amparo, Heinze, Jürgen, Kaltenpoth, Martin, Moya, Andrés, Oettler, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Amino acids
Animals
Ants - metabolism
Ants - microbiology
Bacteria
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Bacteria - metabolism
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cardiocondyla obscurior
Ecology
Enterobacteriaceae
Evolutionary Biology
Female
Formicidae
Invasive insects
Life Sciences
Male
Metamorphosis
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Original
original-article
Phenylpyruvic Acids - metabolism
Phylogeny
Symbiosis
Vitamins
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Summary:The evolution of eukaryotic organisms is often strongly influenced by microbial symbionts that confer novel traits to their hosts. Here we describe the intracellular Enterobacteriaceae symbiont of the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior , ‘ Candidatus Westeberhardia cardiocondylae’. Upon metamorphosis, Westeberhardia is found in gut-associated bacteriomes that deteriorate following eclosion. Only queens maintain Westeberhardia in the ovarian nurse cells from where the symbionts are transmitted to late-stage oocytes during nurse cell depletion. Functional analyses of the streamlined genome of Westeberhardia (533 kb, 23.41% GC content) indicate that neither vitamins nor essential amino acids are provided for the host. However, the genome encodes for an almost complete shikimate pathway leading to 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, which could be converted into tyrosine by the host. Taken together with increasing titers of Westeberhardia during pupal stage, this suggests a contribution of Westeberhardia to cuticle formation. Despite a widespread occurrence of Westeberhardia across host populations, one ant lineage was found to be naturally symbiont-free, pointing to the loss of an otherwise prevalent endosymbiont. This study yields insights into a novel intracellular mutualist that could play a role in the invasive success of C. obscurior.
ISSN:1751-7362
1751-7370
DOI:10.1038/ismej.2015.119