Category: Uncategorized

GENETIC STREAMLINING. "Symbiont genome decay affects genes in all functional categories. The first obligate symbiont genome sequenced, that of Buchnera of the pea aphid, was most notable for the fact that it had undergone extensive gene loss and contained no novel genes yet did retain genes for biosynthesis of essential amino acids needed by hosts." https://lnkd.in/dcBwzRs View in LinkedIn

DRASTIC MEASURES. "A well-documented force affecting heritable symbionts is genetic drift leading to the fixation of neutral or deleterious mutations that cause gene inactivation, gene loss, or inefficiency of gene products. The basis for elevated genetic drift is the drastic shift in population genetic structure that occurs when a free-living microorganism adopts an obligate symbiotic lifestyle." https://lnkd.in/dcBwzRs View in LinkedIn

REPRESSING IMMUNITY. "Accommodation of symbionts may require that hosts suppress or modify immune responses, potentially elevating risk of pathogen invasion. In aphids, many genes underlying responses to Gram-negative bacteria have been eliminated, including the immune deficiency signaling pathway (IMD), peptidoglycan receptor proteins, and antimicrobial peptides." https://lnkd.in/dcBwzRs View in LinkedIn

BLURRED BOUNDARY. "Taken together, these findings for the Buchnera–aphid symbiosis point to extensive genomic and metabolic integration of symbiotic partners and blur the distinction between symbiont and organelle." https://lnkd.in/dcBwzRs View in LinkedIn

VIRAL DIVERSITY. "With the sole exception of large dsDNA viruses, all major classes of viruses display greater diversity in eukaryotes than in prokaryotes." (dsDNA = double stranded DNA). https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

APHID ENDOSYMBIONT. "Bacteriocyte expression of genes underlying amino acid metabolism complements Buchnera pathways for amino acid biosynthesis, reflecting extensive host–symbiont collaboration in this central nutritional function. Certain aphid genes seem to function solely in controlling or supporting Buchnera." https://lnkd.in/dcBwzRs View in LinkedIn

VIRAL IMPRINTS. "Less recognized are the contributions to our metagenome from viruses that establish chronic infection and retroviral elements that infest our chromosomes. How the dynamic nature of the interactions between this internal virome and the host imprints our immune system, and perhaps our physiology more generally, has been given little consideration." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

DRIVERS OF EVOLUTION. "Viruses are among the key agents of evolution; virus-derived gene transfer agents (GTAs) are the specialized genetic devices that evolved to promote gene exchange." Nice visual overview of viruses. https://lnkd.in/dxWrbdm View in LinkedIn

VIRAL ROOTS. "In the Virus World, all viruses evolve from other viruses, even if via circuitous routes: Omnis virus e virus. Granted, this requires an important caveat: viruses do exist that seem to be disconnected form the rest of the virus world." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

TURBULENT EVOLUTION. "The continuity of the Virus World notwithstanding, during eukaryogenesis, one of the most remarkable, turbulent transitions in life's evolution, it has gone through a second melting pot that gave rise to the realm of eukaryotic viruses." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn