Distribution, expression, and motif variability of ankyrin domain genes in Wolbachia pipientis.

ABSTRACT: The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis infects a wide range of arthropods, in which it induces a variety of reproductive phenotypes, including cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), parthenogenesis, male killing, and reversal of genetic sex determination. The recent sequencing and annotation of the first Wolbachia genome revealed an unusually high number of genes encoding ankyrin domain (ANK) repeats. These ANK genes are likely to be important in mediating the Wolbachia-host interaction. In this work we determined the distribution and expression of the different ANK genes found in the sequenced Wolbachia wMel genome in nine Wolbachia strains that induce different phenotypic effects in their hosts. A comparison of the ANK genes of wMel and the non-CI-inducing wAu Wolbachia strain reveal

SUBMITTER: Iturbe-Ormaetxe I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1196006 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature