4.8 Article

Physiological and evolutionary contexts of a new symbiotic species from the nitrogen-recycling gut community of turtle ants

期刊

ISME JOURNAL
卷 -, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01490-1

关键词

-

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Genome sequencing has revealed a new symbiont, Ischyrobacter davidsoniae, in the gut microbiome of turtle ants, which plays a crucial role in nitrogen recycling. The distribution of Ischyrobacter davidsoniae across the turtle ant genus Cephalotes suggests a long-term relationship of over 50 million years. Through genomic analysis and microscopy, it has been identified that Ischyrobacter davidsoniae occupies a specialized niche in the anterior ileum of the host and is involved in a symbiont-autonomous N-recycling pathway.
While genome sequencing has expanded our knowledge of symbiosis, role assignment within multi-species microbiomes remains challenging due to genomic redundancy and the uncertainties of in vivo impacts. We address such questions, here, for a specialized nitrogen (N) recycling microbiome of turtle ants, describing a new genus and species of gut symbiont-Ischyrobacter davidsoniae (Betaproteobacteria: Burkholderiales: Alcaligenaceae)-and its in vivo physiological context. A re-analysis of amplicon sequencing data, with precisely assigned Ischyrobacter reads, revealed a seemingly ubiquitous distribution across the turtle ant genus Cephalotes, suggesting & GE;50 million years since domestication. Through new genome sequencing, we also show that divergent I. davidsoniae lineages are conserved in their uricolytic and urea-generating capacities. With phylogenetically refined definitions of Ischyrobacter and separately domesticated Burkholderiales symbionts, our FISH microscopy revealed a distinct niche for I. davidsoniae, with dense populations at the anterior ileum. Being positioned at the site of host N-waste delivery, in vivo metatranscriptomics and metabolomics further implicate I. davidsoniae within a symbiont-autonomous N-recycling pathway. While encoding much of this pathway, I. davidsoniae expressed only a subset of the requisite steps in mature adult workers, including the penultimate step deriving urea from allantoate. The remaining steps were expressed by other specialized gut symbionts. Collectively, this assemblage converts inosine, made from midgut symbionts, into urea and ammonia in the hindgut. With urea supporting host amino acid budgets and cuticle synthesis, and with the ancient nature of other active N-recyclers discovered here, I. davidsoniae emerges as a central player in a conserved and impactful, multipartite symbiosis.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.8
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据