- Mittwoch, 14.05.2025 um 14.00 Uhr
- Seminarraum „Drachenwand“ 2. Stock, Mondseestrasse 9, 5310 Mondsee
- Zoom Link für den Seminarvortrag: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87158255252, Meeting ID: 871 5825 52
Joseph Kelly, Universität Konstanz, Limnologisches Institut (D)
Overcoming the obstacles of living together: a story of two young endosymbiotic partners
https://www.limnologie.uni-konstanz.de/becks/team/joe-kelly/
Abstract:
Intracellular endosymbiosis is often viewed as a partnership between distantly related cells that can open new opportunities for evolutionary innovation. However, the early stages of this association are likely antagonized by the inherent selfishness of each lineage, an emergent property that would be expected given that the fittest individuals of each species propagate without regard towards the other’s welfare. How, then, are these hurdles overcome such that the participating lineages persist together in endosymbiosis? In the presented work, we examined this question from a genomic viewpoint using the ciliate Tetrahymena utriculariae and its algal symbiont, Micractinium tetrahymenae - two species that have recently established endosymbiosis. Our results identified expansions in gene families relevant to stress responses as salient features of both species’ genomes, and hence elucidate a mitigation strategy that could explain how they have overcome the inevitable conflicts arising from living together.