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A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode

Wolbachia symbionts are the most successful host-associated microbes on the planet, infecting arthropods and nematodes. Their role in nematodes is particularly enigmatic, with filarial nematode species either 100% infected and dependent on symbionts for reproduction and development, or not at all in...

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Autores principales: Dudzic, Jan P., Curtis, Caitlin I., Gowen, Brent E., Perlman, Steve J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9515626/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36168763
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1518
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author Dudzic, Jan P.
Curtis, Caitlin I.
Gowen, Brent E.
Perlman, Steve J.
author_facet Dudzic, Jan P.
Curtis, Caitlin I.
Gowen, Brent E.
Perlman, Steve J.
author_sort Dudzic, Jan P.
collection PubMed
description Wolbachia symbionts are the most successful host-associated microbes on the planet, infecting arthropods and nematodes. Their role in nematodes is particularly enigmatic, with filarial nematode species either 100% infected and dependent on symbionts for reproduction and development, or not at all infected. We have discovered a highly divergent strain of Wolbachia in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode, Howardula sp., in a nematode clade that has not previously been known to harbour Wolbachia. While this nematode is 100% infected with Wolbachia, we did not detect it in related species. We sequenced the Howardula symbiont (wHow) genome and found that it is highly reduced, comprising only 550 kilobase pairs of DNA, approximately 35% smaller than the smallest Wolbachia nematode symbiont genomes. The wHow genome is a subset of all other Wolbachia genomes and has not acquired any new genetic information. While it has lost many genes, including genes involved in cell wall synthesis and cell division, it has retained the entire haem biosynthesis pathway, suggesting that haem supplementation is critical. wHow provides key insights into our understanding of what are the lower limits of Wolbachia cells, as well as the role of Wolbachia symbionts in the biology and convergent evolution of diverse parasitic nematodes.
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spelling pubmed-95156262022-09-28 A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode Dudzic, Jan P. Curtis, Caitlin I. Gowen, Brent E. Perlman, Steve J. Proc Biol Sci Evolution Wolbachia symbionts are the most successful host-associated microbes on the planet, infecting arthropods and nematodes. Their role in nematodes is particularly enigmatic, with filarial nematode species either 100% infected and dependent on symbionts for reproduction and development, or not at all infected. We have discovered a highly divergent strain of Wolbachia in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode, Howardula sp., in a nematode clade that has not previously been known to harbour Wolbachia. While this nematode is 100% infected with Wolbachia, we did not detect it in related species. We sequenced the Howardula symbiont (wHow) genome and found that it is highly reduced, comprising only 550 kilobase pairs of DNA, approximately 35% smaller than the smallest Wolbachia nematode symbiont genomes. The wHow genome is a subset of all other Wolbachia genomes and has not acquired any new genetic information. While it has lost many genes, including genes involved in cell wall synthesis and cell division, it has retained the entire haem biosynthesis pathway, suggesting that haem supplementation is critical. wHow provides key insights into our understanding of what are the lower limits of Wolbachia cells, as well as the role of Wolbachia symbionts in the biology and convergent evolution of diverse parasitic nematodes. The Royal Society 2022-09-28 2022-09-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9515626/ /pubmed/36168763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1518 Text en © 2022 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Evolution
Dudzic, Jan P.
Curtis, Caitlin I.
Gowen, Brent E.
Perlman, Steve J.
A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title_full A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title_fullStr A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title_full_unstemmed A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title_short A highly divergent Wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
title_sort highly divergent wolbachia with a tiny genome in an insect-parasitic tylenchid nematode
topic Evolution
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9515626/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36168763
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1518
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