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Protozoal evolution in animal guts: from elephants to cockroaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

J H P Hackstein
J H P Hackstein*
Affiliation:
Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
*
Email: j.hackstein@science.ru.nl
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Extract

Large herbivorous mammals such as cattle, sheep, goat or deer host “symbiotic” protozoa that are believed to be of importance for the digestion of the plant-based diets of their hosts. However, at least in under laboratory conditions, these mammalian hosts exhibit a rather normal digestive performance if the protozoa in the gastro-intestinal tract were removed by defaunation. A similar “commensalistic” relationship has been found between intestinal ciliates and arthropod hosts such as millipedes and cockroaches. In contrast, certain termites cannot survive without their symbiotic flagellates. Moreover, throughout the animal kingdom there is no simple correlation between the feeding habits of the hosts and the presence or absence of symbiotic/commensalic protozoa. Rather the taxonomic position of the host appears to be crucial for the evolution of the protozoal communities in the gastro-intestinal tract.

Type
Invited papers
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2006 , March 2006 , pp. 221
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 The American Society of International Law

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References

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