Wolbachia genomes: revealing the biology of parasitism and mutualism
Wolbachia bacteria are endosymbiotic partners of many animal species, in which they behave as either parasites (in arthropod hosts) or mutualists (in nematode hosts). What biochemistry and biology underpin these diverse lifestyles? The recent complete sequencing of genomes from Wolbachia that infect...
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Published in | Trends in parasitology Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 60 - 65 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford
Elsevier Ltd
01.02.2006
Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Wolbachia bacteria are endosymbiotic partners of many animal species, in which they behave as either parasites (in arthropod hosts) or mutualists (in nematode hosts). What biochemistry and biology underpin these diverse lifestyles? The recent complete sequencing of genomes from
Wolbachia that infect the arthropod
Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode
Brugia malayi, together with the partial genome sequencing of three
Wolbachia strains found in drosophilids, enables this question to begin to be addressed. Parasitic arthropod
Wolbachia are characterized by the presence of phages that carry ankyrin-repeat proteins; these proteins might be exported to the host cell to manipulate reproduction. In nematode
Wolbachia, which lack these phages, several biochemical pathways can deliver essential metabolites to the nematode hosts. Nematode
Wolbachia might also have a role in modulating the mammalian host immune system but the sequenced
Wolbachia genomes lack the genes to synthesize lipopolysaccharide, raising questions about the nature of the inducing molecule. The
Wolbachia surface protein might carry out this function. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1 |
ISSN: | 1471-4922 1471-5007 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.pt.2005.12.012 |