TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly divergent Mollicutes symbionts coexist in the scorpion Androctonus australis
AU - Elmnasri, Khaled
AU - Hamdi, Chadlia
AU - Ettoumi, Besma
AU - Crotti, Elena
AU - Guesmi, Amel
AU - Najjari, Afef
AU - Doudoumis, Vangelis
AU - Boudabous, Abdellatif
AU - Daffonchio, Daniele
AU - Tsiamis, George
AU - Cherif, Ameur
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: We thank the European Union for financial support under the project BIODESERT (European Community's Seventh Framework Programme CSA-SA REGPOT-2008-2, grant agreement no. 245746) and the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific research in the ambit of the laboratory projects MBA206 and LR11ES31. DD has been supported by the baseline research funds provided by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
PY - 2018/7/18
Y1 - 2018/7/18
N2 - Androctonus australis is one of the most ubiquitous and common scorpion species in desert and arid lands from North Africa to India and it has an important ecological role and social impact. The bacterial community associated to this arachnid is unknown and we aimed to dissect its species composition in the gut, gonads, and venom gland. A 16S rRNA gene culture-independent diversity analysis revealed, among six other taxonomic groups (Firmicutes, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Cyanobacteria), a dominance of Mollicutes phylotypes recorded both in the digestive tract and the gonads. These related Mollicutes include two Spiroplasma phylotypes (12.5% of DGGE bands and 15% of clones), and a new Mycoplasma cluster (80% of clones) showing 16S rRNA sequence identities of 95 and 93% with Mollicutes detected in the Mexican scorpions Centruroides limpidus and Vaejovis smithi, respectively. Such scorpion-associated Mollicutes form a new lineage that share a distant ancestor with Mycoplasma hominis. The observed host specificity with the apparent phylogenetic divergence suggests a relatively long co-evolution of these symbionts with the scorpion hosts. From the ecological point of view, such association may play a beneficial role for the host fitness, especially during dormancy or molt periods.
AB - Androctonus australis is one of the most ubiquitous and common scorpion species in desert and arid lands from North Africa to India and it has an important ecological role and social impact. The bacterial community associated to this arachnid is unknown and we aimed to dissect its species composition in the gut, gonads, and venom gland. A 16S rRNA gene culture-independent diversity analysis revealed, among six other taxonomic groups (Firmicutes, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Cyanobacteria), a dominance of Mollicutes phylotypes recorded both in the digestive tract and the gonads. These related Mollicutes include two Spiroplasma phylotypes (12.5% of DGGE bands and 15% of clones), and a new Mycoplasma cluster (80% of clones) showing 16S rRNA sequence identities of 95 and 93% with Mollicutes detected in the Mexican scorpions Centruroides limpidus and Vaejovis smithi, respectively. Such scorpion-associated Mollicutes form a new lineage that share a distant ancestor with Mycoplasma hominis. The observed host specificity with the apparent phylogenetic divergence suggests a relatively long co-evolution of these symbionts with the scorpion hosts. From the ecological point of view, such association may play a beneficial role for the host fitness, especially during dormancy or molt periods.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/630750
UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/jobm.201800144
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050465213&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/jobm.201800144
DO - 10.1002/jobm.201800144
M3 - Article
C2 - 30019339
SN - 0233-111X
VL - 58
SP - 827
EP - 835
JO - Journal of Basic Microbiology
JF - Journal of Basic Microbiology
IS - 10
ER -