Angomonas deanei
Angomonas deanei is a flagellated trypanosomatid protozoan. As an obligate parasite, it infects the gastrointestinal tract of insects, and is in turn a host to symbiotic bacteria. The bacterial endosymbiont Ca. "Kinetoplastibacterium crithidii" maintains a permanent mutualistic relationship with the protozoan such that it is no longer able to reproduce and survive on its own. The symbiosis, subsequently also discovered in varying degrees in other protists such as Strigomonas culicis, Novymonas esmeraldas, Diplonema japonicum and Diplonema aggregatum are considered as good models for the understanding of the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotes, and on the origin of cell organelles (i.e. symbiogenesis).
| Angomonas deanei | |
|---|---|
| Three-dimensional reconstruction of Angomonas deanei containing a bacterial endosymbiont (green) near its nucleus (blue). | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Phylum: | Euglenozoa |
| Class: | Kinetoplastea |
| Order: | Trypanosomatida |
| Family: | Trypanosomatidae |
| Genus: | Angomonas |
| Species: | A. deanei |
| Binomial name | |
| Angomonas deanei (Carvalho, 1973) Teixeira & Camargo, 2011 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Crithidia deanei Carvalho, 1973 | |
The species was first described as Crithidia deanei in 1973 by a Brazilian parasitologist Aurora L. M. Carvalho. A phylogenetic analysis in 2011 revealed that it belongs to the genus Angomonas, thereby becoming Angomonas deanei. The symbiotic bacterium is a member of the β-proteobacterium that descended from the common ancestor with the genus Bordetella, or more likely, Taylorella. The two organisms have depended on each other so much that the bacterium cannot reproduce and the protozoan can no longer infect insects when they are isolated.