Free-living Trichomonads are Unexpectedly Diverse

Céza, Vít; Kotyk, Michael; Kubánková, Aneta; Yubuki, Naoji; Šťáhlavský, František; Silberman, Jeffrey D.; Čepička, Ivan

doi:10.1016/j.protis.2022.125883

Cited by 13 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Schematic phylogeny of Metamonada. Composite tree based on topologies of Parabasalia (Noda et al ., 2012; Céza et al ., 2022), Fornicata (Takishita et al ., 2012), Preaxostyla (Zhang et al ., 2015) and Metamonada more broadly (Stairs et al ., 2021). Polytomies indicate areas of low statistical support or disagreement among published phylogenies.…”

Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By number of described species, the vast majority of metamonads are symbionts of lower termites or Cryptocercus , although this may be partially due to sampling bias: it is easier to find and recognise distinct species of protists that are large, morphologically complex, and densely packed in termite guts than tiny ones living at much lower abundance in sediments or other animal guts. The recent discoveries of Barthelona , Anaeramoeba , and Pimpavicka , each representing novel lineages of high taxonomic rank, suggest that the diversity of free‐living Metamonada is even less well understood than that of termite‐associated lineages (Yazaki et al ., 2020; Stairs et al ., 2021; Céza et al ., 2022).…”

Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parabasalia are anaerobes and have modified mitochondria called hydrogenosomes (Brugerolle, 1986; Brugerolle & Lee, 2000 b ; Čepička, Hampl & Kulda, 2010; Čepička et al ., 2017). The ancestor of Parabasalia was likely endobiotic, as most of the current species are, which suggests that the species isolated from anoxic sediments are secondarily free‐living (Céza et al ., 2022).…”

Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No molecular data are available for N. termitis to date. P. scroa also inhabits Cryptotermes dudleyi and Cryptotermes longicollis (Kirby, 1931), and its 18S sequence indicates a close relationship with Tetratrichomonas and Trichomonoides (Berchtold & König, 1995; Céza et al ., 2022).…”

Section: The Hosts and Their Symbiontsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protist symbionts of termites: diversity, distribution, and coevolution

Gile

2023

Biological Reviews

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The symbiosis between termites and their hindgut protists is mutually obligate and vertically inherited. It was established by the late Jurassic in the cockroach ancestors of termites as they transitioned to wood feeding. Since then, protist symbionts have been transmitted from host generation to host generation by proctodeal trophallaxis (anal feeding). The protists belong to multiple lineages within the eukaryotic superphylum Metamonada. Most of these lineages have evolved large cells with complex morphology, unlike the non‐termite‐associated Metamonada. The species richness and taxonomic composition of symbiotic protist communities varies widely across termite lineages, especially within the deep‐branching clade Teletisoptera. In general, closely related termites tend to harbour closely related protists, and deep‐branching termites tend to harbour deep‐branching protists, reflecting their broad‐scale co‐diversification. A closer view, however, reveals a complex distribution of protist lineages across hosts. Some protist taxa are common, some are rare, some are widespread, and some are restricted to a single host family or genus. Some protist taxa can be found in only a few, distantly related, host species. Thus, the long history of co‐diversification in this symbiosis has been complicated by lineage‐specific loss of symbionts, transfer of symbionts from one host lineage to another, and by independent diversification of the symbionts relative to their hosts. This review aims to introduce the biology of this important symbiosis and serve as a gateway to the diversity and systematics literature for both termites and protists. A searchable database with all termite‐protist occurrence records and taxonomic references is provided as a supplementary file to encourage and facilitate new research in this field.

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Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Protistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Hosts and Their Symbiontsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protist symbionts of termites: diversity, distribution, and coevolution

Gile

2023

Biological Reviews

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“…The most complex, with hundreds to tens of thousands of flagella and various accompanying cytoskeletal features, are known as hypermastigotes, and were initially thought to form a discrete taxonomic clade (Brugerolle, 1986). However, molecular analyses have shown that hypermastigotes are not closely related to one another, and that large cell size and structural complexity arose many times independently (Cepicka et al, 2010; Céza et al, 2022; Gile & Slamovits, 2012; Noda et al, 2012; Ohkuma et al, 2005). Structurally, each hypermastigote group has also evolved complexity in slightly different ways, often involving replication of cellular elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Parabasalia symbionts Snyderella spp. and Daimonympha gen. nov. from South American Rugitermes termites and the parallel evolution of a cell with a rotating “head”

Hehenberger,

Boscaro,

James

et al. 2023

J Eukaryotic Microbiology

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Most Parabasalia are symbionts in the hindgut of “lower” (non‐Termitidae) termites, where they widely vary in morphology and degree of morphological complexity. Large and complex cells in the class Cristamonadea evolved by replicating a fundamental unit, the karyomastigont, in various ways. We describe here four new species of Calonymphidae (Cristamonadea) from Rugitermes hosts, assigned to the genus Snyderella based on diagnostic features (including the karyomastigont pattern) and molecular phylogeny. We also report a new genus of Calonymphidae, Daimonympha, from Rugitermes laticollis. Daimonympha's morphology does not match that of any known Parabasalia, and its SSU rRNA gene sequence corroborates this distinction. Daimonympha does however share a puzzling feature with a few previously described, but distantly related, Cristamonadea: a rapid, smooth, and continuous rotation of the anterior end of the cell, including the many karyomastigont nuclei. The function of this rotatory movement, the cellular mechanisms enabling it, and the way the cell deals with the consequent cell membrane shear, are all unknown. “Rotating wheel” structures are famously rare in biology, with prokaryotic flagella being the main exception; these mysterious spinning cells found only among Parabasalia are another, far less understood, example.

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Metamonada Grassé 1952, emend. Cavalier-Smith 1987

Adl

2025

Protistology

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Free-living Trichomonads are Unexpectedly Diverse

Cited by 13 publications

References 47 publications

Protist symbionts of termites: diversity, distribution, and coevolution

Protist symbionts of termites: diversity, distribution, and coevolution

New Parabasalia symbionts Snyderella spp. and Daimonympha gen. nov. from South American Rugitermes termites and the parallel evolution of a cell with a rotating “head”

Metamonada Grassé 1952, emend. Cavalier-Smith 1987

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