A Study of the Cockroach Gut Flagellates in Genus Lophomonas with Single Cell Approaches

Lophomonas is a genus of flagellated parabasalids that exist as commensal symbionts in the hindguts of a variety of pest cockroaches. The genus contains two species: Lophomonas blattarum and Lophomonas striata. The two species differ by way of bacterial ectosymbionts that attach to the outside of L. striata, giving rise to a striated and spindle-shaped appearance. As the attachment of bacterial symbionts prohibits L. striata from taking up large food particles in the same manner as L. blattarum, it is likely the two species differ in which metabolic genes they possess. Here, a comparison of transcriptomes between the two Lophomonas species show slight differences between the species. Metagenomic analysis of L. striata also presents the possibility of L. striata ectosymbionts as belonging to the genus Parabacteroides.