The Ordospora colligata genome: Evolution of extreme reduction in microsporidia and host-to-parasite horizontal gene transfer.

ABSTRACT:

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Microsporidia are a group of obligate intracellular parasites that are best known for their unique infection mechanism and their unparalleled levels of genomic reduction and compaction. We sequenced the genome of Ordospora colligata, a gut parasite of the microcrustacean Daphnia sp. and the closest known relative to the microsporidia characterized by the most extreme genomic reduction, the model genus Encephalitozoon. We found that the O. colligata genome is as compact as those of Encephalitozoon spp., featuring few introns and a similar complement of about 2,000 genes, altogether showing that the extreme reduction took place before the origin of Encephalitozoon spp. and their adaptation to vertebrate hosts. We also found that the O. colligata genome has acquired by hori

SUBMITTER: Pombert JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4313915 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature