Bacteriocyte dynamics during development of a holometabolous insect,the carpenter ant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Camponotus floridanus</Emphasis> |
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Authors: | Sascha Stoll Heike Feldhaar Martin J Fraunholz Roy Gross |
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Institution: | 1.Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Biozentrum,Universit?t Würzburg,Würzburg,Germany;2.Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie,Universit?t Osnabrück,Osnabrück,Germany;3.QIAGEN GmbH,Hilden,Germany |
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Abstract: | Background The carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus harbors obligate intracellular mutualistic bacteria (Blochmannia floridanus) in specialized cells, the bacteriocytes, intercalated in their midgut tissue. The diffuse distribution of bacteriocytes
over the midgut tissue is in contrast to many other insects carrying endosymbionts in specialized tissues which are often
connected to the midgut but form a distinct organ, the bacteriome. C. floridanus is a holometabolous insect which undergoes a complete metamorphosis. During pupal stages a complete restructuring of the
inner organs including the digestive tract takes place. So far, nothing was known about maintenance of endosymbionts during
this life stage of a holometabolous insect. It was shown previously that the number of Blochmannia increases strongly during metamorphosis. This implicates an important function of Blochmannia in this developmental phase during which the animals are metabolically very active but do not have access to external food
resources. Previous experiments have shown a nutritional contribution of the bacteria to host metabolism by production of
essential amino acids and urease-mediated nitrogen recycling. In adult hosts the symbiosis appears to degenerate with increasing
age of the animals. |
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