| patterns and rates of nucleotide substitution, insertion and deletion in the endosymbiont of ants blochmannia floridanus. | genome reduction is a general process that has been studied in numerous symbiotic bacteria associated with insects. we investigated the last stages of genome degradation in blochmannia floridanus, a mutualistic bacterial endosymbiont of the ant camponotus floridanus. we determined the tempo (rates of insertion and deletion) and mode (size and number of insertion-deletion events) of the process in the last 200,000 years by analysing a total of 16 intergenic regions in several strains of this endo ... | 2008 | 19378410 |