Regulation of transcription in a reduced bacterial genome: nutrient-provisioning genes of the obligate symbiont Buchnera aphidicola.

ABSTRACT: Buchnera aphidicola, the obligate symbiont of aphids, has an extremely reduced genome, of which about 10% is devoted to the biosynthesis of essential amino acids needed by its hosts. Most regulatory genes for these pathways are absent, raising the question of whether and how transcription of these genes responds to the major shifts in dietary amino acid content encountered by aphids. Using full-genome microarrays for B. aphidicola of the host Schizaphis graminum, we examined transcriptome responses to changes in dietary amino acid content and then verified behavior of individual transcripts using quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. The only gene showing a consistent and substantial (>twofold) response was metE, which underlies methionine biosynthesis and which is the only amino acid bi

SUBMITTER: Moran NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1151715 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature