ReviewFrontiers in microbiology2014
The earthworm-Verminephrobacter symbiosis: an emerging experimental system to study extracellular symbiosis.
Review in Frontiers in microbiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stability in flexibility: Shifting alliances stabilize the symbioses of marine animals over 150 million years.Science advances · 2026Article
- Primer-Less Species Identification Throughout Fungal (International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Study on the Community Characteristics of the Endogenous Microbiome in Earthworm Cocoons in Composting Systems with Different Base Materials.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Gut Epithelium of the Highly Toxic Ribbon WormToxins · 2026Article
- Ecological and evolutionary responses of earthworm holobionts to environmental changes.The ISME journal · 2025Review
- The association between Dioscorea sansibarensis and Orrella dioscoreae as a model for hereditary leaf symbiosis.PloS one · 2024Article
- Distinct genomic routes underlie transitions to specialised symbiotic lifestyles in deep-sea annelid worms.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Effects of Three Pesticides on the EarthwormFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Adaptations and evolution of a heritable leaf nodule symbiosis between Dioscorea sansibarensis and Orrella dioscoreae.The ISME journal · 2019Article
- Relationships Between Copper-Related Proteomes and Lifestyles in β Proteobacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Genome Evolution and Nitrogen Fixation in Bacterial Ectosymbionts of a Protist Inhabiting Wood-Feeding Cockroaches.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2016Article
- Heritable symbiosis: The advantages and perils of an evolutionary rabbit hole.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2015Article
- Evolution of the tripartite symbiosis between earthworms, Verminephrobacter and Flexibacter-like bacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Article
- Earthworm symbiont Verminephrobacter eiseniae mediates natural transformation within host egg capsules using type IV pili.Frontiers in microbiology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
ALMOST ALL LUMBRICID EARTHWORMS (OLIGOCHAETA: Lumbricidae) harbor extracellular species-specific bacterial symbionts of the genus Verminephrobacter (Betaproteobacteria) in their nephridia. The symbionts have a beneficial effect on host reproduction and likely live on their host's waste products. They are vertically transmitted and presumably associated with earthworms already at the origin of Lumbricidae 62-136 million years ago. The Verminephrobacter genomes carry signs of bottleneck-induced genetic drift, such as accelerated evolutionary rates, low codon usage bias, and extensive genome shuffling, which are characteristic of vertically transmitted intracellular symbionts. However, the Verminephrobacter genomes lack AT bias, size reduction, and pseudogenization, which are also common genomic hallmarks of vertically transmitted, intracellular symbionts. We propose that the opportunity for genetic mixing during part of the host-symbiont life cycle is the key to evade drift-induced genome erosion. Furthermore, we suggest the earthworm-Verminephrobacter association as a new experimental system for investigating host-microbe interactions, and especially for understanding genome evolution of vertically transmitted symbionts in the presence of genetic mixing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.