Genome evolution in bacterial endosymbionts of insects
Abstract
Many insect species rely on intracellular bacterial symbionts for their viability and fecundity. Large-scale DNA-sequence analyses are revealing the forces that shape the evolution of these bacterial associates and the genetic basis of their specialization to an intracellular lifestyle. The full genome sequences of two obligate mutualists, Buchnera aphidicola of aphids and Wigglesworthia glossinidia of tsetse flies, reveal substantial gene loss and an integration of host and symbiont metabolic functions. Further genomic comparisons should reveal the generality of these features among bacterial mutualists and the extent to which they are shared with other intracellular bacteria, including obligate pathogens.
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Obligate endosymbionts have arisen multiple times among the -proteobacteria and are passed vertically from mother to child, thereby introducing convergent features in the bacterial genomes: gene loss, smaller genomes, lower GC content, and reduced thermal stability of proteins.
“These obligate endosymbionts have arisen multiple times among the -proteobacteria (Husn ık et al. 2011) and are passed vertically from mother to child, thereby introducing convergent features in the bacterial genomes: gene loss, smaller genomes, lower GC content, and reduced thermal stability of proteins (Wernegreen 2002).”
From RELAX: Detecting Relaxed Selection in a Phylogenetic Framework (2015) · cites this paper as Wernegreen 2002
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Slightly Deleterious Mutant Substitutions in Evolution
OHTA, T. (1973) · Nature · doi:10.1038/246096a0 · Cited by 1,104 · see citing works
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RELAX: Detecting Relaxed Selection in a Phylogenetic Framework
Wertheim, J. O., Murrell, B., Smith, M. D., Kosakovsky Pond, S. L., & Scheffler, K. (2015) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msu400 · Cited by 778 · see citing works
Nowack, E. C. M., Melkonian, M., & Glöckner, G. (2008) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.02.051 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Phylogenomic analysis of the GIY-YIG nuclease superfamily
Dunin-Horkawicz, S., Feder, M., & Bujnicki, J. M. (2006) · BMC Genomics · doi:10.1186/1471-2164-7-98 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wernegreen, J. J.
- Affiliations
- Marine Biological Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wernegreen, Jennifer J.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Genetics
- Published
- 2002-11
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 850-861
- ISSN
- 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0064
- OpenAlex
- W2014438907
- Cited by
- 487
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Phytoplasmas and Hemiptera pathogens
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Keywords
- endosymbiotic bacteria, insect symbionts, genome evolution, Buchnera aphidicola, Wigglesworthia glossinidia, gene loss, obligate mutualism, intracellular bacteria, obligate pathogens, genome sequencing
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bacteria, Insecta, Mutation, Phylogeny, Symbiosis, Genome, Bacterial, Evolution, Molecular, Genomics, Genetic Drift
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