title: Bacterial endosymbiosis in amoebae.
abstract: The large, free-living amoebae are inherently phagocytic. They capture, ingest and digest microbes within their phagolysosomes, including those that survive in other cells. One exception is an unidentified strain of Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria that spontaneously infected the D strain of Amoeba proteus and came to survive inside them. These bacteria established a stable symbiotic relationship with amoebae that has resulted in phenotypic modulation of the host and mutual dependence for survival.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Zoology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Jeon