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In lower termites, the endosymbiotic protists play a major role in the digestion of lignocellulosic materials that constitute a bulk of the termites' diet. Bacteria benefit from the reduced exposure to predators and competition from other bacterial species, the ample supply of nutrients and relative environmental stability inside the host.
Symbiogenesis (endosymbiotic theory, or serial endosymbiotic theory [2]) is the leading evolutionary theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic organisms. [3]
Ectosymbiosis is defined as a symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on the outside surface of a different organism. [3] For instance, barnacles on whales is an example of an ectosymbiotic relationship where the whale provides the barnacle with a home, a ride, and access to food.
Endogenosymbiosis is an evolutionary process, proposed by the evolutionary and environmental biologist Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, in which "gene carriers" (viruses, retroviruses and bacteriophages) and symbiotic prokaryotic cells (bacteria or archaea) could share parts or all of their genomes in an endogenous symbiotic relationship with their hosts.
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.
Diagram of the six possible types of symbiotic relationship, from mutual benefit to mutual harm. The definition of symbiosis was a matter of debate for 130 years. [7] In 1877, Albert Bernhard Frank used the term symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens.
The protist Mixotricha paradoxa, itself an endosymbiont of the Mastotermes darwiniensis termite, is always found as a consortium of at least one endosymbiotic coccus, multiple ectosymbiotic species of flagellate or ciliate bacteria, and at least one species of helical Treponema bacteria that forms the basis of Mixotricha protists' locomotion. [3]
Cyanobionts play a variety of roles in their symbiotic relationships with the host organism. [2] [4] [5] They function primarily as nitrogen- and carbon-fixers.However, they can also be involved in metabolite exchange, as well as in provision of UV protection to their symbiotic partners, since some can produce nitrogen-containing compounds with sunscreen-like properties, such as scytonemin and ...