Leeches are found in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats on all continents.
Sanguivorous leeches have been used in medicine for millennia. Modern scientific uses …

Culture-based studies of the microbial community within the gut of the medicinal leech have
typically been focused on various Aeromonas species, which were believed to be the sole …

There are trillions of microbes found throughout the human body and they exceed the
number of eukaryotic cells by 10-fold. Metagenomic studies have revealed that the majority …

Digestive-tract microbiota exert tremendous influence over host health. Host-symbiont model
systems are studied to investigate how symbioses are initiated and maintained, as well as to …

Microbial transmission through mucosal-mediated mechanisms is widespread throughout
the animal kingdom. One example of this occurs with Hirudo verbana, the medicinal leech …

The gut bacteria of the North American medicinal leech, Macrobdella decora, were
characterized. Biochemical tests and DNA sequences indicated that Aeromonas jandaei is …

Many monophagous animals have coevolutionary relationships with bacteria that provide
unavailable nutrients to the host. Frequently, these microbial partners are vertically inherited …

Strictly blood-feeding leeches and their limited microbiota provide natural and powerful
model systems to examine symbiosis. Blood is devoid of essential nutrients and it is thought …

Abstract Aims Medicinal leeches (Annelida: Hirudinea) are fresh water ectoparasitic species
which have been applied as traditional therapy. However, gut microbiota could bring high …

Gastrointestinal microbiomes play important roles in the health and nutrition of animals and
humans. The medicinal leech, Hirudo verbana, serves as a powerful model for the study of …