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Detection of a Novel Subspecies of Francisella noatunensis as Endosymbiont of the Ciliate Euplotes raikovi

  • Microbiology of Aquatic Systems
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Abstract

Francisella are facultative intracellular bacteria causing severe disease in a broad range of animals. Two species are notable: Francisella tularensis, the causative organism of tularemia and a putative warfare agent, and Francisella noatunensis, an emerging fish pathogen causing significant losses in wild and farmed fish. Although various aspects of Francisella biology have been intensively studied, their natural reservoir in periods between massive outbreaks remains mysterious. Protists have been suspected to serve as a disguised vector of Francisella and co-culturing attempts demonstrate that some species are able to survive and multiply within protozoan cells. Here, we report the first finding of a natural occurrence of Francisella sp. as a protist endosymbiont. By molecular and morphological approaches, we identified intracellular bacteria localized in a strain of the marine ciliate Euplotes raikovi, isolated from the coast of Adriatic Sea. Phylogenetic analysis placed these endosymbionts within the genus Francisella, in close but distinct association with F. noatunensis. We suggest the establishment of a novel subspecies within F. noatunensis and propose the cytoplasmatic endosymbiont of E. raikovi as “Candidatus F. noatunensis subsp. endociliophora” subsp. nov.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank P. Luporini for providing the E. raikovi strain used in this study. M. Barresi is gratefully acknowledged for her technical assistance in many experiments, S. Gabrielli and S. Neumann for photographic artwork, and an anonymous reviewer for English editing. This work was supported by a PRIN fellowship (protocol 2008TRZSXF_002) from the Italian Research Ministry (MIUR).

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  1. Martina Schrallhammer

    Present address: Institute of Hydrobiology, Dresden University of Technology, DE-01062, Dresden, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 4/6, IT-56126, Pisa, Italy

    Martina Schrallhammer, Franco Verni & Giulio Petroni

  2. Biologisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, DE-70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Michael Schweikert

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e Naturali, Università di Camerino, IT-62032, Camerino, Italy

    Adriana Vallesi

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Correspondence to Giulio Petroni.

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Figure S1

Fluorescence in situ hybridization of Euplotes raikovi; a) signal from probe EUB338; b) signal from probe FRANCIS1167 specific for Francisella; c) differential interference contrast. Scale bar = 20 μm. (GIF 288 kb)

High resulotion image (TIFF 9179 kb)

Figure S2

Transmission electron micrograph of Euplotes raikovi cells, different section than that displayed in Fig. 3. Scale bar = 1 μm. (GIF 25 kb)

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Schrallhammer, M., Schweikert, M., Vallesi, A. et al. Detection of a Novel Subspecies of Francisella noatunensis as Endosymbiont of the Ciliate Euplotes raikovi . Microb Ecol 61, 455–464 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9772-9

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