A ribosome-inactivating protein in a Drosophila defensive symbiont.

ABSTRACT: Vertically transmitted symbionts that protect their hosts against parasites and pathogens are well known from insects, yet the underlying mechanisms of symbiont-mediated defense are largely unclear. A striking example of an ecologically important defensive symbiosis involves the woodland fly Drosophila neotestacea, which is protected by the bacterial endosymbiont Spiroplasma when parasitized by the nematode Howardula aoronymphium. The benefit of this defense strategy has led to the rapid spread of Spiroplasma throughout the range of D. neotestacea, although the molecular basis for this protection has been unresolved. Here, we show that Spiroplasma encodes a ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) related to Shiga-like toxins from enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and that Howardula ribosomal

SUBMITTER: Hamilton PT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4720295 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature