Project description:Transcriptome analysis of Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont derived from uninfected and infected samples at 3 time points (3, 10 and 20 days). Expression profiling by array - Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans morsitans
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont derived from control samples with or without parasite contact at 10 days. Expression profiling by array - Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans morsitans
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont derived from control samples with or without parasite contact at 10 days. Expression profiling by array - Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans morsitans RNAs are a mix of Wigglesworthia, Sodalis and glossina. RNAs were extracted from 8 samples including 2 conditions (with 4 replicates per condition).
Project description:Endosymbiotic bacteria associated with eukaryotic hosts are omnipresent in nature, particularly in insects. Studying the bacterial side of host-symbiont interactions is, however, often limited by the unculturability and genetic intractability of the symbionts. Spiroplasma poulsonii is a maternally transmitted bacterial endosymbiont that is naturally associated with several Drosophila species. S. poulsonii strongly affects its host’s physiology, for example by causing male killing or by protecting it against various parasites. Despite intense work on this model since the 1950s, attempts to cultivate endosymbiotic Spiroplasma in vitro have failed so far. Here, we developed a method to sustain the in vitro culture of S. poulsonii by optimizing a commercially accessible medium. We also provide a complete genome assembly, including the first sequence of a natural plasmid of an endosymbiotic Spiroplasma species. Last, by comparing the transcriptome of the in vitro culture to the transcriptome of bacteria extracted from the host, we identified genes putatively involved in host-symbiont interactions. This work provides new opportunities to study the physiology of endosymbiotic Spiroplasma and paves the way to dissect insect-endosymbiont interactions with two genetically tractable partners.
Project description:Biological carbon fixation is foundational to the biosphere. Most autotrophs are thought to possess one carbon fixation pathway. The hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila’s chemoautotrophic symbionts, however, possess two functional pathways: the Calvin Benson-Bassham (CBB) and the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycles. Little is known about how Riftia’s symbionts and related organisms coordinate the functioning of these two pathways. Here we investigated net carbon fixation rates, transcriptional/metabolic responses, and transcriptional co-expression patterns of Riftia pachyptila’s endosymbionts by incubating tubeworms at environmental pressures, temperature, and geochemistry. Results showed that rTCA and CBB transcriptional patterns varied in response to different geochemical regimes and that each pathway is allied to specific metabolic processes, suggesting distinctive yet complementary roles in metabolic function. Net carbon fixation rates were also exemplary, and accordingly we propose that co-activity of CBB and rTCA may be an adaptation for maintaining high carbon fixation rates, conferring a fitness advantage in dynamic vent environments.