A clinical Acanthamoeba isolate harboring two distinct bacterial endosymbionts

Acanthamoebae feed on bacteria but are also frequent hosts of bacterial symbionts. Here, we describe the stable co-occurrence of two symbionts, one affiliated to the genus Parachlamydia and the other to the candidate genus Paracaedibacter (Alphaproteobacteria), within a clinical isolate of Acanthamoeba hatchetti genotype T4. We performed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to describe this symbiosis. Our study adds to other reports of simultaneous co-occurrence of two symbionts within one Acanthamoeba cell.