Volume 64, Issue 1 pp. 21-31
MiniReview

Endosymbiotic bacteria associated with nematodes, ticks and amoebae

Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor

Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK

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Oleg Mediannikov

Oleg Mediannikov

Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Campus commun UCAD-IRD of Hann, Dakar, Senegal

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Didier Raoult

Didier Raoult

Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France

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Gilbert Greub

Corresponding Author

Gilbert Greub

Institute of Microbiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Correspondence: Gilbert Greub, Center for Research on Intracellular Bacteria (CRIB), Institute of Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 21 314 49 79; fax: +41 21 314 40 60; e-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 29 November 2011
Citations: 10

Abstract

Endosymbiosis is a mutualistic, parasitic or commensal symbiosis in which one symbiont is living within the body of another organism. Such symbiotic relationship with free-living amoebae and arthropods has been reported with a large biodiversity of microorganisms, encompassing various bacterial clades and to a lesser extent some fungi and viruses. By contrast, current knowledge on symbionts of nematodes is still mainly restricted to Wolbachia and its interaction with filarial worms that lead to increased pathogenicity of the infected nematode. In this review article, we aim to highlight the main characteristics of symbionts in term of their ecology, host cell interactions, parasitism and co-evolution, in order to stimulate future research in a field that remains largely unexplored despite the availability of modern tools.

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