Host-associated microbial communities are widespread in nature and vital to the health and
fitness of the host. Deciphering the physiology of the microbiome in vivo is critical to …

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 …

Transmission, critical to the establishment and persistence of host-associated microbiotas,
also exposes symbionts to new environmental conditions. With horizontal transmission …

The vast majority of bacterial species remain uncultured, and this severely limits the
investigation of their physiology, metabolic capabilities, and role in the environment. High …

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

The medicinal leech has established a long-term mutualistic association with Aeromonas
veronii, a versatile bacterium which can also display free-living waterborne and fish-or …

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 …

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

The catalase gene katA of the medicinal leech symbiont Aeromonas veronii bv. sobria was
cloned, sequenced, and functionally characterized. Southern hybridization, using an A …