Complete bacteriophage transfer in a bacterial endosymbiont (Wolbachia) determined by targeted genome capture.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophage flux can cause the majority of genetic diversity in free-living bacteria. This tenet of bacterial genome evolution generally does not extend to obligate intracellular bacteria owing to their reduced contact with other microbes and a predominance of gene deletion over gene transfer. However, recent studies suggest intracellular coinfections in the same host can facilitate exchange of mobile elements between obligate intracellular bacteria-a means by which these bacteria can partially mitigate the reductive forces of the intracellular lifestyle. To test whether bacteriophages transfer as single genes or larger regions between coinfections, we sequenced the genome of the obligate intracellular Wolbachia strain wVitB from the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis and compared it aga

SUBMITTER: Kent BN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3068000 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature