Author(s): Alonso, Diego Peres [UNESP] ; Mancini, Maria Vittoria ; Damiani, Claudia ; Cappelli, Alessia ; Ricci, Irene ; Alvarez, Marcus Vinicius Niz [UNESP] ; Bandi, Claudio ; Ribolla, Paulo Eduardo Martins [UNESP] ; Favia, Guido
Date: 2019
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/190009
Origin: Oasisbr
Subject(s): Anopheles darlingi; Asaia; Genome reduction; Symbiosis
Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T16:59:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-01-01
Paleontological Research Institution
Symbiosis is now recognized as a driving force in evolution, a role that finds its ultimate expression in the variety of associations bonding insects with microbial symbionts. These associations have contributed to the evolutionary success of insects, with the hosts acquiring the capacity to exploit novel ecological niches, and the symbionts passing from facultative associations to obligate, mutualistic symbioses. In bacterial symbiont of insects, the transition from the free-living life style to mutualistic symbiosis often resulted in a reduction in the genome size, with the generation of the smallest bacterial genomes thus far described. Here, we show that the process of genome reduction is still occurring in Asaia, a group of bacterial symbionts associated with a variety of insects. Indeed, comparative genomics of Asaia isolated from different mosquito species revealed a substantial genome size and gene content reduction in Asaia from Anopheles darlingi, a South-American malaria vector. We thus propose Asaia as a novel model to study genome reduction dynamics, within a single bacterial taxon, evolving in a common biological niche.
Biotechnology Institute (IBTEC) Biosciences Institute Botucatu (IBB) Sao Paulo State University (UNESP)
School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine University of Camerino
Clinical Pediatric Research Center Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Department of Biosciences University of Milan
MRC-University of Glasgow-Centre for Virus Research
Biotechnology Institute (IBTEC) Biosciences Institute Botucatu (IBB) Sao Paulo State University (UNESP)
Paleontological Research Institution: 2012T85B3R_001
Paleontological Research Institution: 2015JXC3JF_001
