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Yellow protein co-opted to sustain obligate symbiosis in leaf beetles

ABSTRACT: Yellow proteins are best known for their roles in pigmentation, behavior, and development across insects. Here, we uncover their striking evolutionary co-option for a wholly distinct function: sustaining a Paleocene-aged digestive symbiosis in tortoise beetles. We show that a female-specific Yellow forms the gelatinous spheres that encapsulate the bacterium Stammera during vertical transmission, allowing it to subsist extracellularly despite its drastically reduced genome (0.24 Mb) and limited metabolic capacity. Yellow expression is highly localized to symbiont-harboring glands in the ovaries, where the protein is assembled into a matrix and secreted during egg-laying. Functional knockdown of yellow disrupts sphere integrity and compromises symbiont viability under dry conditions, underscoring the protein’s embedding properties and protective role for Stammera. These findings reveal an unreported function for an ancient gene family and demonstrate how tortoise beetles have repurposed Yellows to overcome the extreme metabolic constraints faced by their symbionts during extracellular transmission.

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Acromis Sparsa Cassida Rubiginosa Aspidimorpha Charidotella Sexpunctata Chelymorpha Gressoria

TISSUE(S): Whole Body

SUBMITTER: Ana Velic

LAB HEAD: Hassan Salem

PROVIDER: PXD075214 | Pride | 2026-06-16

REPOSITORIES: Pride

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			Action	DRS
	1165R1R3evidence.xlsx	Xlsx
	1165R4R5R6proteinGroups.xlsx	Xlsx
	20230807_CO_1165HaSa_R01.raw	Raw
	20230807_CO_1165HaSa_R02.raw	Raw
	20230807_CO_1165HaSa_R03.raw	Raw

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Project description:Leuconostoc lactis is found in vegetables, fruits, and meat and is used by the food industry in the preparation of dairy products, wines and sugars. We have previously demonstrated, that the dextransucrase (DsrLL) of Lc. lactis AV1n produces a high molecular weight dextran from sucrose, indicating its potential use as a dextran forming starter culture. We have also shown that this bacterium was able to produce 10-fold higher levels of dextran at 20 °C than at 37 °C, at the former temperature accompanied by an increase of dsrLL gene expression. However, the general physiological response of Lc. lactis AV1n to cold temperature in the presence of sucrose, leading to an increased production of dextran has not been yet investigated. Therefore, we have here used a quantitative proteomics approach to investigate the cold temperature-induced changes in the proteomic profile of this strain in comparison to its proteomic response at 37 °C. In total, 337 proteins were found to be differentially expressed at the applied significance criteria (FDR-adjusted p-value ≤ 0.05 and with a fold change ≥ 1.5 or ≤ 0.67) with 204 proteins overexpressed, among which 13% were involved in protein as well as cell wall, and envelope component biosynthesis including DsrLL as RNA chaperones. Proteins implicated in cold stress were expressed at high level at 20 °C and possibly play a role in the upregulation of DsrLL allowing efficient synthesis of the protein essential for its adaptation to cold. Post-transcriptional regulation of DsrLL expression also seems to take place through the interplay of exonucleases and endonucleases overexpressed at 20 °C, that would influence the half-life of the dsrLL transcript. Furthermore, the mechanism of cold resistance of Lc. lactis AV1n seems to be also based on energy saving through a decrease in growth rate mediated by a decrease in carbohydrate metabolism and its orientation towards the production pathways for storage molecules. Thus, this better understanding of the responses to low temperature and mechanisms for environmental adaptation of Lc. lactis could be exploited for industrial use of strains belonging to this species.

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Yellow protein co-opted to sustain obligate symbiosis in leaf beetles

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