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An endosymbiont or endobiont [1] is an organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism. Typically the two organisms are in a mutualistic relationship. Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia ), which live in the root nodules of legumes , single-cell algae inside reef-building corals , and bacterial endosymbionts ...
As the endosymbiont adapts to the host's lifestyle, the endosymbiont changes dramatically. There is a drastic reduction in its genome size, as many genes are lost during the process of metabolism , and DNA repair and recombination, while important genes participating in the DNA-to-RNA transcription , protein translation and DNA/RNA replication ...
As an endosymbiont evolves into an organelle, most of its genes are transferred to the host cell genome. [24] The host cell and organelle therefore need to develop a transport mechanism that enables the return of the protein products needed by the organelle but now manufactured by the cell.
A symbiosome is formed as a result of a complex and coordinated interaction between the symbiont host and the endosymbiont. [5] At the point of entry into a symbiont host cell, part of the cell's membrane envelops the endosymbiont and breaks off into the cytoplasm as a discrete unit, an organelle-like vacuole called the symbiosome.
Fungal-bacterial endosymbiosis encompasses the mutualistic relationship between a fungus and intracellular bacteria species residing within the fungus. Many examples of endosymbiotic relationships between bacteria and plants, algae and insects exist and have been well characterized, however fungal-bacteria endosymbiosis has been less well described.
An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; however, most of the endophyte/plant relationships are not well understood.
The Tsetse fly's most prominent and vital endosymbiont is the bacterium, Wigglesworthia glossinidia, These bacteria are housed in the fly's bacteriocytes and produce B vitamins (B1, B6, and B9). The Tsetse fly itself lacks the ability to obtain these nutrients because of its hematophagous diet.
Endosymbiont acquisition [ edit ] Zooxanthellae are particularly associated with reef-building corals but they also inhabit other invertebrates and protists ; their hosts include many sea anemones , jellyfish , nudibranchs , certain bivalve molluscs like the giant clam Tridacna , sponges and flatworms as well as some species of radiolarians and ...