Microbiomes of free-living ciliates. ciliate metagenome

Ciliates are the largest group of ubiquitous aquatic bacterivorous protists, and many species are easily cultivated. However, only few studies reported prokaryotic communities naturally associated with the ciliate cells. Herein, we analyzed the microbiome composition of several ciliate species (Ciliophora) originating from different locations and belonging to different morpho-species by high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of the 16S rRNA gene.