Month: September 2022

WOLBACHIA BIOLOGY. "During their 100-million-year association with their hosts, the maternally-transmitted bacteria have evolved as “reproductive parasites” that cause cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization, parthenogenesis, and male killing in arthropods, while in nematodes and some arthropods, they are mutualistic and can be required for host oogenesis or larval development." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

WALBACHIA HOST MANIPULATION. "In addition to modifying reproduction, Wolbachia spp. have recently been shown to confer resistance against RNA viruses, influence locomotion in response to food cues and increase egg laying of females reared on low- or high-iron diets in Drosophila." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

WOLBACHIA INSECT PANDEMIC. "In Asobara tabida insects and cell lines from Drosophila simulans flies and Aedes mosquitoes, Wolbachia is involved in iron metabolism of the host. These bacteria can also be transmitted horizontally across species, which has led to a pandemic-level distribution in invertebrates: current estimates place Wolbachia in 66% of all arthropod species." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

HIGH LATERAL TRANSFER. "The discovery of an extraordinarily high level of mobile elements in the genome of Wolbachia, a widespread arthropod and nematode endosymbiont, suggests that this bacterium could be an excellent model for assessing the evolution and function of mobile DNA in specialized bacteria." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

HIGH RATES OF GENE EXCHANGE. "Here, we discuss how studies on the temperate bacteriophage WO of Wolbachia have revealed unexpected levels of genomic flux and are challenging previously held views about the clonality of obligate intracellular bacteria." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTIONARY DOWNSIZING. "The restrictive lifestyle of obligate intracellular bacteria can lead to a near minimal genome state that encodes only essential functions. This reduction is associated with a genome-wide deletion bias, population bottlenecks, and relaxed selection due to the ability of the bacteria to acquire nutrients from the host cell rather than synthesize them." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

HOST SWITCHING INCREASES GENE SHARING. "As a consequence of reductive evolution, mobile DNA elements have often been shown to be rare or absent from such streamlined bacteria. However, genome sequence data shows that mobile elements are present at sometimes high frequency in obligate intracellular bacteria that switch hosts, including Wolbachia, Rickettsia, Coxiella, and Phytoplasma." https://lnkd.in/dYh3-r4 View in LinkedIn

UNUSUAL THREESOME. "The tripartite arthropod-Wolbachia-phage WO system is emerging as a model to study the role of mobile elements in obligate intracellular bacteria." https://lnkd.in/dG3vir9 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first weekend on the obligate parasite Wolbachia. These curious beasts have attracted interest because they break a number of rules regarding sharing of host genes, inheritance and gene downsizing. They are exquisitely downsized, in line with their lifestyle, to remain mobile and flexible parasites outsourcing their needs to the host. To be continued next weekend. View in LinkedIn

CENTRAL ROLE OF MITOCHONDRIA. "These later examples...clearly demonstrates the central role of the mitochondria in the highly regulated and complex process of many forms of programmed cell death. The activation of the mitochondrial pathway can also occur following the activation of the extrinsic pathway." Mitochondria were engulfed bacteria early in evolution. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167488910002764 View in LinkedIn