The size and structure of the DNA genome of symbiont xenosome particles in the ciliate Parauronema acutum.

The size and structure of the DNA genome of xenosomes, bacterial endosymbionts of the marine hymenostome ciliate, Parauronema acutum 110-3, were investigated. Renaturation kinetic measurements, determined optically and by hydroxyapatite chromatography, suggested a genome size of 0.34 x 10(9) daltons. Sedimentation rate measurements of DNA gently released from the symbionts yielded molecules of comparable size. The analytical complexity, determined chemically, was 3.03 x 10(9) daltons. Consistent with these and other data is a model for the structure of the symbiont genome in which the DNA exists in the form of nine circularly permuted, double-stranded DNA molecules of unique sequence, each of molecular weight 0.34 x 10(9). It is suggested that xenosomes and certain symbionts found in ciliated protozoa may be extant forms of once free-living bacteria that have adapted to the intracellular environment.