Obligate insect endosymbionts exhibit increased ortholog length variation and loss of large accessory proteins concurrent with genome shrinkage.

ABSTRACT: Extreme genome reduction has been observed in obligate intracellular insect mutualists and is an assumed consequence of fixed, long-term host isolation. Rapid accumulation of mutations and pseudogenization of genes no longer vital for an intracellular lifestyle, followed by deletion of many genes, are factors that lead to genome reduction. Size reductions in individual genes due to small-scale deletions have also been implicated in contributing to overall genome shrinkage. Conserved protein functional domains are expected to exhibit low tolerance for mutations and therefore remain relatively unchanged throughout protein length reduction while nondomain regions, presumably under less selective pressures, would shorten. This hypothesis was tested using orthologous protein sets from the Flavo

SUBMITTER: Kenyon LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4007534 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature