PMID- 31492817 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20200421 LR - 20200421 IS - 1091-6490 (Electronic) IS - 0027-8424 (Print) IS - 0027-8424 (Linking) VI - 116 IP - 39 DP - 2019 Sep 24 TI - Revealing the metabolic capacity of Streblomastix strix and its bacterial symbionts using single-cell metagenomics. PG - 19675-19684 LID - 10.1073/pnas.1910793116 [doi] AB - Lower termites harbor in their hindgut complex microbial communities that are involved in the digestion of cellulose. Among these are protists, which are usually associated with specific bacterial symbionts found on their surface or inside their cells. While these form the foundations of a classic system in symbiosis research, we still know little about the functional basis for most of these relationships. Here, we describe the complex functional relationship between one protist, the oxymonad Streblomastix strix, and its ectosymbiotic bacterial community using single-cell genomics. We generated partial assemblies of the host S. strix genome and Candidatus Ordinivivax streblomastigis, as well as a complex metagenome assembly of at least 8 other Bacteroidetes bacteria confirmed by ribosomal (r)RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to be associated with S. strix. Our data suggest that S. strix is probably not involved in the cellulose digestion, but the bacterial community on its surface secretes a complex array of glycosyl hydrolases, providing them with the ability to degrade cellulose to monomers and fueling the metabolism of S. strix In addition, some of the bacteria can fix nitrogen and can theoretically provide S. strix with essential amino acids and cofactors, which the protist cannot synthesize. On the contrary, most of the bacterial symbionts lack the essential glycolytic enzyme enolase, which may be overcome by the exchange of intermediates with S. strix This study demonstrates the value of the combined single-cell (meta)genomic and FISH approach for studies of complicated symbiotic systems. FAU - Treitli, Sebastian C AU - Treitli SC AD - Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, BIOCEV, 252 42 Vestec, Czech Republic. FAU - Kolisko, Martin AU - Kolisko M AD - Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. FAU - Husnik, Filip AU - Husnik F AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5381-0125 AD - Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. FAU - Keeling, Patrick J AU - Keeling PJ AD - Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. FAU - Hampl, Vladimir AU - Hampl V AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5430-7564 AD - Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, BIOCEV, 252 42 Vestec, Czech Republic; vlada@natur.cuni.cz. LA - eng SI - GENBANK/MK585202 SI - GENBANK/MK585215 PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20190906 PL - United States TA - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A JT - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America JID - 7505876 RN - 9004-34-6 (Cellulose) SB - IM MH - Animals MH - Bacteria/metabolism MH - Bacteroidetes/genetics MH - Cellulose/metabolism MH - Digestive System/metabolism MH - Eukaryota/metabolism MH - Genome MH - Isoptera/genetics/*microbiology MH - Metagenomics/methods MH - Oxymonadida/*metabolism MH - Phylogeny MH - Single-Cell Analysis/methods MH - Symbiosis PMC - PMC6765251 OTO - NOTNLM OT - Bacteroidetes OT - Streblomastix OT - ectosymbionts OT - oxymonads OT - termite COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest. EDAT- 2019/09/08 06:00 MHDA- 2020/04/22 06:00 PMCR- 2020/03/06 CRDT- 2019/09/08 06:00 PHST- 2020/03/06 00:00 [pmc-release] PHST- 2019/09/08 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2020/04/22 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2019/09/08 06:00 [entrez] AID - 1910793116 [pii] AID - 201910793 [pii] AID - 10.1073/pnas.1910793116 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Sep 24;116(39):19675-19684. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1910793116. Epub 2019 Sep 6.