Nutritional upgrading for omnivorous carpenter ants by the endosymbiont Blochmannia.
Background: Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) are considered to be omnivores. Nonetheless, the genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus, the obligate intracellular endosymbiont of Camponotus floridanus, suggests a function in nutritional upgrading of host resources by the bacterium. Thus, thestrongly reduced genome of the endosymbiont retains genes for all subunits of a functional urease, as well
