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How Symbiotic Streptomyces Evolved to Decompose Cellulose
Although cellulose is the most abundant terrestrial source of carbon, few organisms have evolved the ability to break it down. Adam J Book et al. investigate the diversity and evolution of cellulolytic ability in the ubiquitous bacterial genus Streptomyces, finding that high cellulolytic ability evolved in select lineages through key changes in gene content and transcriptional regulation. This image shows leaf-cutter ants (Atta cephalotes), one of the many eukaryotic host species found to harbor cellulolytic Streptomyces.
Image Credit: Don Parsons
Citation: (2016) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 14(6) June 2016. PLoS Biol 14(6): ev14.i06. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v14.i06
Published: June 30, 2016
Copyright: © 2016 Parsons. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Although cellulose is the most abundant terrestrial source of carbon, few organisms have evolved the ability to break it down. Adam J Book et al. investigate the diversity and evolution of cellulolytic ability in the ubiquitous bacterial genus Streptomyces, finding that high cellulolytic ability evolved in select lineages through key changes in gene content and transcriptional regulation. This image shows leaf-cutter ants (Atta cephalotes), one of the many eukaryotic host species found to harbor cellulolytic Streptomyces.
Image Credit: Don Parsons