TY - JOUR A1 - Desai, M.S. A1 - Strassert, J.F.H. A1 - Meuser, K. A1 - Hertel, Horst A1 - Ikeda-Ohtsubo, W. A1 - Radek, R. A1 - Brune, A. T1 - Strict cospeciation of devescovinid flagellates and Bacteroidales ectosymbionts in the gut of dry-wood termites (Kalotermitidae) N2 - The surface of many termite gut flagellates is colonized with a dense layer of bacteria, yet little is known about the evolutionary relationships of such ectosymbionts and their hosts. Here we investigated the molecular phylogenies of devescovinid flagellates (Devescovina spp.) and their symbionts from a wide range of dry-wood termites (Kalotermitidae). From species-pure flagellate suspensions isolated with micropipettes, we obtained SSU rRNA gene sequences of symbionts and host. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the Devescovina spp. present in many species of Kalotermitidae form a monophyletic group, which includes also the unique devescovinid flagellate Caduceia versatilis. All members of this group were consistently associated with a distinct lineage of Bacteroidales, whose location on the cell surface was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The well-supported congruence of the phylogenies of devescovinids and their ectosymbionts documents a strict cospeciation. In contrast, the endosymbionts of the same flagellates (´Endomicrobia´) were clearly polyphyletic and must have been acquired independently by horizontal transfer from other flagellate lineages. Also the Bacteroidales ectosymbionts of Oxymonas flagellates present in several Kalotermitidae belonged to several distantly related lines of descent, underscoring the general perception that the evolutionary history of flagellate-bacteria symbioses in the termite gut is complex. KW - Symbionts KW - Termite gut KW - Flagellates KW - Cospeciation KW - Bacteroidales KW - Devescovinids KW - Kalotermitidae KW - Dry-wood termites PY - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.02080.x SN - 1462-2912 SN - 1462-2920 VL - 12 IS - 8 SP - 2120 EP - 2132 PB - Blackwell Science CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-20885 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mikaelyan, A. A1 - Thompson, C. L. A1 - Meuser, K. A1 - Zheng, H. A1 - Rani, P. A1 - Plarre, Rüdiger A1 - Brune, A. T1 - High-resolution phylogenetic analysis of Endomicrobia reveals multiple acquisitions of endosymbiotic lineages by termite gut flagellates N2 - Bacteria of the class Endomicrobia form a deepbranching clade in the Elusimicrobia phylum. They are found almost exclusively in the intestinal tract of animals and are particularly abundant in many termites, where they reside as intracellular symbionts in the cellulolytic gut flagellates. Although small populations of putatively free-living lineages have been detected in faunated and flagellate-free hosts, the evolutionary origin of the endosymbionts is obscured by the limited amount of phylogenetic information provided by the 16S rRNA gene fragment amplified with Endomicrobia-specific primers. Here, we present a robust phylogenetic framework based on the nearfull-length 16S–23S rRNA gene region of a diverse set of Endomicrobia from termites and cockroaches, which also allowed us to classify the shorter reads from previous studies. Our data revealed that endosymbionts arose independently at least four times from different free-living lineages, which were already present in ancestral cockroaches but became associated with their respective hosts long after the digestive symbiosis between termites and flagellates had been established. Pyrotag sequencing revealed that the proportion of putatively free-living lineages increased, when all flagellates and their symbionts were removed from the gut of lower termites by starvation, starch feeding or hyperbaric oxygen, but results varied between different methods. KW - Endosymbionts KW - Evolution KW - Termites PY - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12565 VL - 9 IS - 5 SP - 477 EP - 483 AN - OPUS4-42707 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -