The ‘green’ ciliate
Paramecium bursaria lives in mutualistic symbiosis with green algae belonging to the species
Chlorella variabilis or
Micractinium conductrix. We analysed the diversity of algal endosymbionts and their
P. bursaria hosts in nine strains from geographically diverse origins. Therefore, their
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The ‘green’ ciliate
Paramecium bursaria lives in mutualistic symbiosis with green algae belonging to the species
Chlorella variabilis or
Micractinium conductrix. We analysed the diversity of algal endosymbionts and their
P. bursaria hosts in nine strains from geographically diverse origins. Therefore, their phylogenies using different molecular markers were inferred. The green paramecia belong to different syngens of
P. bursaria. The intracellular algae were assigned to
Chl. variabilis,
M. conductrix or, surprisingly,
Choricystis parasitica. This usually free-living alga co-occurs with
M. conductrix in the host’s cytoplasm. Addressing the potential status of
Chor. parasitica as second additional endosymbiont, we determined if it is capable of symbiosis establishment and replication within a host cell. Symbiont-free
P. bursaria were generated by cycloheximid treatment. Those aposymbiotic
P. bursaria were used for experimental infections to investigate the symbiosis specificity not only between
P. bursaria and
Chor. parasitica but including also
Chl. variabilis and
M. conductrix. For each algae we observed the uptake and incorporation in individual perialgal vacuoles. These host-symbiont associations are stable since more than five months. Thus,
Chor. parasitica and
P. bursaria can form an intimate and long-term interaction. This study provides new insights into the diversity of
P. bursaria algal symbionts.
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