Lysine provisioning by horizontally acquired genes promotes mutual dependence between whitefly and two intracellular symbionts.

ABSTRACT: Horizontal gene transfer is widespread in insects bearing intracellular symbionts. Horizontally transferred genes (HTGs) are presumably involved in amino acid synthesis in sternorrhynchan insects. However, their role in insect-symbiont interactions remains largely unknown. We found symbionts Portiera, Hamiltonella and Rickettsia possess most genes involved in lysine synthesis in the whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 although their genomes are reduced. Hamiltonella maintains a nearly complete lysine synthesis pathway. In contrast, Portiera and Rickettsia require the complementation of whitefly HTGs for lysine synthesis and have lysE, encoding a lysine exporter. Furthermore, each horizontally transferred lysine gene of ten B. tabaci cryptic species shares an evolutionary origin. We demonstrated

SUBMITTER: Bao XY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8659303 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature