Molecular biology of Ca. Endonucleobacter

Endozoicomonadaceae bacteria are widespread in many marine animals, and generally considered beneficial. Members of one clade, however, Candidatus Endonucleobacter, infect the nuclei of deep-sea mussels, where they replicate up to 80.000 bacteria per nucleus and cause the nuclei to swell to 50 times their original size. The genomes here presented have helped us to understand the molecular biology of Ca. Endonucleobacter in the context of its bacterial family Endozoicomonadaceae.