Evolutionary Genetics of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility Genes cifA and cifB in Prophage WO of Wolbachia.

ABSTRACT: The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia manipulates arthropod reproduction to facilitate its maternal spread through host populations. The most common manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI): Wolbachia-infected males produce modified sperm that cause embryonic mortality, unless rescued by embryos harboring the same Wolbachia. The genes underlying CI, cifA and cifB, were recently identified in the eukaryotic association module of Wolbachia's prophage WO. Here, we use transcriptomic and genomic approaches to address three important evolutionary facets of the cif genes. First, we assess whether or not cifA and cifB comprise a classic toxin-antitoxin operon in wMel and show that the two genes exhibit striking, transcriptional differences across host development. They can produce a bicist

SUBMITTER: Lindsey ARI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5793819 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature