Blattabacterium

Abstract

Blat.ta.bac.te'ri.um. L. fem. n. blatta an insect that shuns the light, the cockroach, chafer, moth, etc.; L. neut. n. bacterium rod; N.L. neut. n. Blattabacterium , an endosymbiotic bacterium harbored by cockroaches and one termite species. Bacteroidetes / Flavobacteriia / Flavobacteriales / Blattabacteriaceae / Blattabacterium Blattabacterium are present only as intracellular symbionts ( endosymbionts ) in almost all species of cockroaches (Blattaria: Dictyoptera) studied so far and one species of termite, Mastotermes darwiniensis (Mastotermitidae: Isoptera). Lo, Bandi, Watanabe, Nalepa and Beninati (2007) reported that they could not detect the presence of Blattabacterium in members of the cockroach genus Nocticola . Plump , slightly curved and straight rods , about 1 µm in diameter and 1.6–9.0 µm in length, usually with rounded ends. Length slightly variable among cockroach species. Within a cockroach species, longer forms occur inside specialized cells of abdominal fat body called mycetocytes ; shorter forms occur in gonads and embryos. Binary fission pairs are common in mycetocytes. Enveloped by host cell membranes . Gram‐stain‐variable to Gram‐stain‐positive staining but has a Gram‐negative type cell‐wall structure composed of peptidoglycan surrounded by an outer membrane. Nonmotile . Nonflagellated . Possesses enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and respiratory cytochromes . DNA G + C content ( mol %): 26–28 (Bd). Type species : Blattabacterium cuenoti (Mercier 1906) Hollande and Favre 1931, 754 AL ( Bacillus cuenoti Mercier 1906, 684).