An insect symbiosis is influenced by bacterium-specific polymorphisms in outer-membrane protein A.

ABSTRACT: Beneficial bacterial symbioses are ubiquitous in nature. However, the functional and molecular basis of host tolerance to resident symbiotic microbes, in contrast to resistance to closely related bacteria that are recognized as foreign, remain largely unknown. We used the tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans), which depends on symbiotic flora for fecundity and has limited exposure to foreign microbes, to investigate the tolerance phenomenon exhibited during symbiosis. We examined the potential role of bacterium-specific polymorphisms present in the major bacterial surface protein, outer-membrane protein A (OmpA), on host infection outcomes. Tsetse were successfully superinfected with their mutualistic facultative symbiont, Sodalis glossinidius, whereas infections with Escherichia coli K12 were l

SUBMITTER: Weiss BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2567497 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature