Work

Novel Role for Aeromonas jandaei as a Digestive Tract Symbiont of the North American Medicinal Leech

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: The gut bacteria of the North American medicinal leech, Macrobdella decora, were characterized. Biochemical tests and DNA sequences indicated that Aeromonas jandaei is the dominant culturable symbiont in leeches from a broad geographic area. In this work we identified a new habitat for A. jandaei, and here we suggest that there is unexpected specificity between leeches and Aeromonas species.

Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology

DOI: 10.1128/aem.01282-06

Authors: Mark E. Siddall, Paul L. Worthen, Matthew Johnson, Joerg Graf

Institutions: American Museum of Natural History, University of Connecticut

Language: English

Topic: Leech Biology and Applications

Subfield: Pharmacology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: PEET: Monography of the Families of Hirudinea (Leeches) with On-line Databasing and Development of Electronic Keys: A Program to Train the Hirudinologists of the Future, CAREER: Establishment of Hirudo medicinalis as a model for digestive-tract symbioses, Genetic Transfer in the Evolution of Infectious Disease