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Endosymbiosis Max Planck Institute

Submit
Max Planck Institute For Marine Microbiology
Microbiology
By MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR MARINE MICROBIOLOGY
MARCH 3, 2021
POPULAR ARTICLES
 MARCH 2, 2021

Massive
Iceberg – 10
Energy-providing bacterial endosymbiont
enables its unicellular eukaryotic host to Times the
breathe nitrate, demonstrating that
unicellular eukaryotes may acquire Size of San
endosymbionts to complement or replace
functions of their mitochondrial Francisco –
organelles.
Breaks O
Researchers from Bremen, together with their
colleagues from the Max Planck Genome Brunt Ice
Center in Cologne and the aquatic research
institute Eawag from Switzerland, have Shelf in
discovered a unique bacterium that lives
inside a unicellular eukaryote and provides it
with energy. Unlike mitochondria, this so-
Antarctica
called endosymbiont derives energy from the A giant iceberg,
respiration of nitrate, not oxygen. “Such approximately 1.5
partnership is completely new,” says Jana times the size of
Milucka, the senior author on the Nature Greater Paris [or about
paper. “A symbiosis that is based on 10 times the size of San
respiration and transfer of energy is to this Francisco], broke off
date unprecedented.”
from the northern…
In general, among eukaryotes, symbioses are
rather common. Eukaryotic hosts often co- READ MORE
exist with other organisms, such as bacteria.
Some of the bacteria live inside the host cells
or tissue, and perform certain services, such MARCH 2,
as defense or nutrition. In return, the host 2021

provides shelter and suitable living conditions Meeting

for the symbiont. An endosymbiosis can even the Meat
go that far that the bacterium loses its ability Needs of
to survive on its own outside its host. the
Future:
This was also the case with the symbiosis Innovativ
discovered by the Bremen scientists in Lake
e
Biofabric
Zug in Switzerland. “Our nding opens the
ation of
possibility that simple unicellular eukaryotes, Beef
such as protists, can host energy-providing Muscle
endosymbionts to complement or even Tissue in
replace the functions of their mitochondria,” the Lab
says Jon Graf, rst author of the study. “This
protist has managed to survive without MARCH 1,
oxygen by teaming up with an endosymbiont 2021
capable of nitrate respiration.” The Modern
endosymbiont’s name ‘Candidatus Azoamicus Oasis of
ciliaticola’ re ects this; a ‘nitrogen friend’ Jubbah: A
that dwells within a ciliate. Long-Ago
Lake
Amid the
Dunes

MARCH 1,
2021

Cruising
Past a
Spectacul
 ar Aurora
Borealis
on the
Internatio
nal Space
Station

MARCH 1,
2021

First Test
for All
The gure is a composite of a scanning electron
microscope image (SEM, grey) and uorescence images.
Known
Visible is the ‘Candidatus Azoamicus ciliaticola’
Human
endosymbiont (visualized by FISH, yellow) and bacterial
Coronavir
prey in food vacuoles as well as the large cell nucleus uses,
(stained by DAPI, blue). The outer structure of the Including
weakly uorescent ciliate as well as the cilia are also New
visible. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Marine COVID-19
Microbiology, S. Ahmerkamp Mutation
s
An intimate partnership becomes ever closer
MARCH 1,
So far, it has been assumed that eukaryotes in 2021
oxygen-free environments survive through
New
fermentation, since mitochondria require Research
oxygen in order to generate energy. The Shows
fermentation process is well documented and Neandert
has been observed in many anaerobic ciliates. hals Had
However, microorganisms cannot draw as the
much energy from fermentation, and they Capacity
typically do not grow and divide as quickly as to
their aerobic counterparts.
Perceive
and
Produce
“Our ciliate has found a solution for this,” says
Human
Graf. “It has engulfed a bacterium with the Speech
ability to breathe nitrate and integrated it into
its cell. We estimate that the assimilation took MARCH 1,

place at least 200 to 300 million years ago.” 2021

Since then, evolution has further deepened MeshCOD

this intimate partnership. E:
Revolutio
Time-shifted evolution nary New
Theory
The evolution of mitochondria has proceeded
for How
Memories
in a similar way. „All mitochondria have a Are
common origin,” explains Jana Milucka. It is Stored in
believed that more than a billion years ago the Brain
when an ancestral archaeon engulfed a
bacterium, these two started a very important
MARCH 1,
symbiosis: this event marked the origin of the 2021
eukaryotic cell. Over time, the bacterium
Bottling
became more and more integrated into the the
cell, progressively reducing its genome. World’s
Properties no longer needed were lost and Coldest
only the ones that bene tted the host were Plasma
retained. Eventually, mitochondria evolved, as to Unlock
we know them today. They have their own tiny the
genome as well as a cell membrane, and exist Secrets
as so-called organelles in eukaryotes. In the
of Fusion
Power
human body, for example, they are present in
almost every cell and supply them – and thus
us – with energy.
TAGS
“Our endosymbiont is capable of performing
many mitochondrial functions, even though it
does not share a common evolutionary origin Astronomy
with mitochondria,” says Milucka. “It is Astrophysics Behavioral
tempting to speculate that the symbiont
Science Biochemistry Biotechnology
might follow the same path as mitochondria, Black Hole Cancer Cell Biology
and eventually become an organelle.” Climate Change Cosmology

COVID-19 Disease Ecology

A chance encounter Energy European Southern Observatory

European Space Agency

It is actually amazing that this symbiosis has
Evolution Exoplanet Genetics
remained unknown for so long. Mitochondria
work so well with oxygen – why shouldn’t Geology Harvard-Smithsonian

there be an equivalent for nitrate? One Center for Astrophysics Harvard

possible answer is that no one was aware of University Hubble Space

this possibility and so no one was looking for Telescope Images
it. Studying endosymbioses is challenging, as Infectious Diseases JPL Mars
most symbiotic microorganisms cannot be Materials Science Max Planck
grown in the laboratory. However, the recent
Institute Medicine MIT
advances in metagenomic analyses have
Nanoscience Nanotechnology
allowed us to gain a better insight into the
complex interaction between hosts and NASA NASA Goddard Space Flight
symbionts. When analyzing a metagenome, Center Neurology Neuroscience
scientists look at all genes in a sample. This Paleontology Particle Physics

approach is often used for environmental Planetary Science

samples as the genes in a sample cannot be
automatically assigned to the organisms Popular Public Health
present. This means that scientists usually Quantum Physics Virology Yale

look for speci c gene sequences that are University

relevant to their research question.
Metagenomes often contain millions of
different gene sequences and it is quite
normal that only a small fraction of them is
analyzed in detail.

Originally, the Bremen scientists were also

looking for something else. The Research
Group Greenhouse Gases at the Max-Planck-
Institute for Marine Microbiology investigates
microorganisms involved in methane
metabolism. For this, they have been studying
the deep-water layers of Lake Zug. The lake is
highly strati ed, which means that there is no
vertical exchange of water. The deep-water
layers of Lake Zug thus have no contact with
surface water and are largely isolated. That is
why they contain no oxygen but are rich in
methane and nitrogen compounds, such as
nitrate. While looking for methane munching
bacteria with genes for nitrogen conversion,
Graf came across an amazingly small gene
sequence that encoded the complete
metabolic pathway for nitrate respiration.
“We were all stunned by this nding and I
started comparing the DNA with similar gene
sequences in a database,” says Graf. But the
only similar DNA belonged to that of
symbionts that live in aphids and other
insects. “This didn’t make sense. How would
insects get into these deep waters? And
why?,” Graf remembers. The scientists of the
research group started guessing games and
betting.

Not alone in the dark lake

In the end, one thought prevailed: The

genome must belong to a yet-unknown
endosymbiont. To verify this theory, members
of the research team undertook several
expeditions to Lake Zug in Switzerland. With
the help of the local cooperation partner
Eawag they collected samples to look
speci cally for the organism that contains this
unique endosymbiont. In the lab, the
scientists shed out various eukaryotes out of
the water samples with a pipette. At last,
using a gene marker, it was possible to
visualize the endosymbiont and identify its
protist host.

A nal excursion one year ago was supposed

to bring nal certainty. It was a dif cult
undertaking in the middle of winter. Stormy
weather, dense fog and time pressure due to
rst news about Coronavirus as well as a
possible lockdown made the search in the big
lake even more dif cult. Nonetheless, the
scientists succeeded in retrieving several
samples from the deep water and bringing
them to Bremen. These samples brought them
nal con rmation of their theory. “It is nice
knowing that they are down there together,”
says Jana Milucka. “Normally, these ciliates
eat bacteria. But this one let one alive and
partnered up with it.”

Many new questions

This nding provokes many exciting new

questions. Are there similar symbioses that
have existed much longer and where the
endosymbiont has already crossed the
boundary to an organelle? If such symbiosis
exists for nitrate respiration, does it also exist
for other compounds? How did this symbiosis,
which has existed for 200 to 300 million years,
end up in a post-glacial lake in the Alps that
only formed 10,000 years ago? Moreover:
“Now that we know what we are looking for,
we found the endosymbiont’s gene sequences
all around the world,” says Milucka. In France,
as well as in Taiwan, or in East African lakes
that in part are much older than Lake Zug.
Does the origin of this symbiosis lie in one of
them? Or did it start in the ocean? These are
the questions that the research group wants
to investigate next.

Reference: 3 March 2021, Nature.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03297-6

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1 COMMENT

ON "“UNPRECEDENTED” NEW FORM OF SYMBIOSIS

DISCOVERED"

Pete | March 3, 2021 at 8:37 am |

Reply

Symbiosis article, this is what the

Chinese were messing with 4/5 years
ago for new energy source for gadgets
and ultimately created covid19

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