Seon Hee Choi, Min Kyoung Cho, Soon Cheol Ahn, Ji Eun Lee, Jong Soo Lee, Dong-Hee Kim, Ying-Hua Xuan, Yeon Chul Hong, Hyun Hee Kong, Dong Il Chung, Hak Sun Yu
Korean J Parasitol 2009;47(4):337-344. Published online December 1, 2009
In a previous study, we reported our discovery of Acanthamoeba contamination in domestic tap water; in that study, we determined that some Acanthamoeba strains harbor endosymbiotic bacteria, via our molecular characterization by mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (Mt DNA RFLP). Five (29.4%) among 17 Acanthamoeba isolates contained endosymbionts in their cytoplasm, as demonstrated via orcein staining. In order to estimate their pathogenicity, we conducted a genetic characterization of the endosymbionts in Acanthamoeba isolated from domestic tap water via 16S rDNA sequencing. The endosymbionts of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP3 and KA/WP4 evidenced the highest level of similarity, at 97% of the recently published 16S rDNA sequence of the bacterium, Candidatus Amoebophilus asiaticus. The endosymbionts of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP8 and KA/WP12 shared a 97% sequence similarity with each other, and were also highly similar to Candidatus Odyssella thessalonicensis, a member of the α-proteobacteria. The endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP9 exhibits a high degree of similarity (85-95%) with genus Methylophilus, which is not yet known to harbor any endosymbionts. This is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, to show that Methylophilus spp. can live in the cytoplasm of Acanthamoeba.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
An Evolutionary-Focused Review of the Holosporales (Alphaproteobacteria): Diversity, Host Interactions, and Taxonomic Re-ranking as Holosporineae Subord. Nov Michele Castelli, Giulio Petroni Microbial Ecology.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Zooming in on the intracellular microbiome composition of bacterivorous Acanthamoeba isolates Binod Rayamajhee, Mark Willcox, Savitri Sharma, Ronnie Mooney, Constantinos Petsoglou, Paul R Badenoch, Samendra Sherchan, Fiona L Henriquez, Nicole Carnt ISME Communications.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Acanthamoeba species isolated from marine water in Malaysia exhibit distinct genotypes and variable physiological properties Rosnani Hanim Mohd Hussain, Mohamed Kamel Abdul Ghani, Naveed Ahmed Khan, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui, Tengku Shahrul Anuar Journal of Water and Health.2022; 20(1): 54. CrossRef
The life cycle-dependent transcriptional profile of the obligate intracellular amoeba symbiontAmoebophilus asiaticus E Selberherr, T Penz, L König, B Conrady, A Siegl, M Horn, S Schmitz-Esser FEMS Microbiology Ecology.2022;[Epub] CrossRef
A Systematic Review of Intracellular Microorganisms within Acanthamoeba to Understand Potential Impact for Infection Binod Rayamajhee, Dinesh Subedi, Hari Kumar Peguda, Mark Duncan Willcox, Fiona L. Henriquez, Nicole Carnt Pathogens.2021; 10(2): 225. CrossRef
A comparative analysis of drinking water employing metagenomics Kyle D. Brumfield, Nur A. Hasan, Menu B. Leddy, Joseph A. Cotruvo, Shah M. Rashed, Rita R. Colwell, Anwar Huq, Christopher Staley PLOS ONE.2020; 15(4): e0231210. CrossRef
Detection of bacterial endosymbionts in freshwater crustaceans: the applicability of non-degenerate primers to amplify the bacterial 16S rRNA gene Monika Mioduchowska, Michał Jan Czyż, Bartłomiej Gołdyn, Adrianna Kilikowska, Tadeusz Namiotko, Tom Pinceel, Małgorzata Łaciak, Jerzy Sell PeerJ.2018; 6: e6039. CrossRef
Interactive effects of temperature, organic carbon, and pipe material on microbiota composition and Legionella pneumophila in hot water plumbing systems Caitlin R. Proctor, Dongjuan Dai, Marc A. Edwards, Amy Pruden Microbiome.2017;[Epub] CrossRef
Isolation and Genotyping of Acanthamoeba spp. as Neglected Parasites in North of Iran Azar Shokri, Shahabeddin Sarvi, Ahmad Daryani, Mehdi Sharif The Korean Journal of Parasitology.2016; 54(4): 447. CrossRef
Identification of Paenibacillus as a Symbiont in Acanthamoeba Vinicius José Maschio, Gertrudes Corção, Francielle Bücker, Karin Caumo, Marilise Brittes Rott Current Microbiology.2015; 71(3): 415. CrossRef
Ankyrin‐repeat proteins from sponge symbionts modulate amoebal phagocytosis Mary T. H. D. Nguyen, Michael Liu, Torsten Thomas Molecular Ecology.2014; 23(6): 1635. CrossRef
Infectious ophthalmology, a neglected field in clinical microbiology M. Drancourt Clinical Microbiology and Infection.2013; 19(3): 209. CrossRef
Isolation and molecular characterization of potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba genotypes from diverse water resources including household drinking water from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Tania Tanveer, Abdul Hameed, Ambreen Gul Muazzam, Suk-Yul Jung, Asma Gul, Abdul Matin Parasitology Research.2013; 112(8): 2925. CrossRef
Diversity of bacteria and mycobacteria in biofilms of two urban drinking water distribution systems Ruyin Liu, Zhisheng Yu, Hongxun Zhang, Min Yang, Baoyou Shi, Xinchun Liu Canadian Journal of Microbiology.2012; 58(3): 261. CrossRef
A bacterial genome in transition - an exceptional enrichment of IS elements but lack of evidence for recent transposition in the symbiont Amoebophilus asiaticus Stephan Schmitz-Esser, Thomas Penz, Anja Spang, Matthias Horn BMC Evolutionary Biology.2011;[Epub] CrossRef