Mixotricha paradoxa

Mixotricha paradoxa
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
(unranked):
Excavata
Phylum:
Metamonada
Class:
Parabasalia
Order:
Trichomonadida
Family:
Devescovinidae
Genus:
Mixotricha
Species:
M. paradoxa
Binomial name
Mixotricha paradoxa
Sutherland, 1933

Mixotricha paradoxa is a species of protozoan that lives inside the gut of the Australian termite species Mastotermes darwiniensis.

It is composed of five different organisms: three bacterial ectosymbionts live on its surface for locomotion and at least one endosymbiont lives inside to help digest cellulose in wood to produce acetate for its host(s).

Mixotricha mitochondria degenerated in hydrogenosomes and mitosomes and lost the ability to produce energy aerobically by oxidative phosphorylation.[1][2] The mitochondria-derived nuclear genes were however conserved.[2]

  1. ^ Cepicka, Ivan; Dolan, Michael F.; Gile, Gillian (1 September 2017). "Parabasalia". Handbook of the Protists. pp. 1175–1218. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28149-0_9. ISBN 978-3-319-28147-6. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference gaia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).