Abstract
IN spite of the widespread occurrence of intracellular bacteria-like symbionts in eukaryotic cells little is known about their function1–3. They are generally thought to offer some advantage to the host cell while benefiting from its ‘hospitality’, but their precise contribution is known in few cases. Flagellates that harbour endosymbionts provide excellent models for the analysis of this relationship. Three trypanosomatids, Crithidia oncopelti, C. deanei and Blastocrithidia culicis harbour endosymbionts whose bacteria-like nature has been confirmed morphologically and biochemically4–9. Unlike symbiont-free species10, those species do not require haemin for growth because the endosymbionts provide haemm-synthesising enzymes11. We now report that endosymbionts enable certain species of Crithidia to synthesise arginine from ornithine.
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CAMARGO, E., FREYMULLER, E. Endosymbiont as supplier of ornithine carbamoyltransferase in a trypanosomatid. Nature 270, 52–53 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270052a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270052a0
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