Symbionts and organelles in ancrobic protozoa and fungi

S Brul; C K Stumm

doi:10.1016/0169-5347(94)90151-1

Symbionts and organelles in ancrobic protozoa and fungi

Trends Ecol Evol. 1994 Sep;9(9):319-24. doi: 10.1016/0169-5347(94)90151-1.

Authors

S Brul¹, C K Stumm

Affiliation

¹ Stanley Brul and Claudius Stumm are at the Dept of Microbiology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Nijmegen, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 21236874
DOI: 10.1016/0169-5347(94)90151-1

Abstract

The discovery of methanogenic bacteria as endosymbionts of free-living anaerobic protozoa opened new fields of research in microbial ecology, cell physiology and molecular biology. Recent information from 16S rRNA sequence studies has shown in three cases that endosymbiotic methanogenic bacteria differ from free-living species. Frequently, endosymbiotic methanogens are localized in anaerobic protozoa near hydrogenosomes - organelles that produce H2, C02 and acetate, all of which are substrates for methanogenesis. Hydrogenosomes are also present in anaerobic fungi. The current view is that the organelles are endosymbllont-derived and were probably acquired on several distinct occasions during evolution.