Atmende Endosymbionten: Erkenntnisse aus Umweltmetagenomen

Abstract The obligate anaerobic denitrifying endosymbiont Candidatus Azoamicus ciliaticola is the only bacterial endosymbiont with a function analogous to mitochondria. Screening of publicly available sequencing data uncovered a ubiquitously distributed family of respiratory endosymbionts. Assembly of four new genomes revealed that these endosymbionts additionally have the potential to respire oxygen. Hence, the endosymbionts may enable their hosts to occupy new ecological niches.