Genome reduction and co-evolution between the primary and secondary bacterial symbionts of psyllids.

ABSTRACT: Genome reduction in obligately intracellular bacteria is one of the most well-established patterns in the field of molecular evolution. In the extreme, many sap-feeding insects harbor nutritional symbionts with genomes that are so reduced that it is not clear how they perform basic cellular functions. For example, the primary symbiont of psyllids (Carsonella) maintains one of the smallest and most AT-rich bacterial genomes ever identified and has surprisingly lost many genes that are thought to be essential for its role in provisioning its host with amino acids. However, our understanding of this extreme case of genome reduction is limited, as genomic data for Carsonella are available from only a single host species, and little is known about the functional role of "secondary" bacterial sy

SUBMITTER: Sloan DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3494270 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature