| wigglesworthia gen. nov. and wigglesworthia glossinidia sp. nov., taxa consisting of the mycetocyte-associated, primary endosymbionts of tsetse flies. | the primary endosymbionts (p-endosymbionts) of tsetse flies (diptera: glossinidae) are harbored inside specialized cells (mycetocytes) in the anterior region of the gut, and these specialized cells form a white, u-shaped organelle called mycetome. the p-endosymbionts of five tsetse fly species belonging to the glossinidae have been characterized morphologically, and their 16s ribosomal dna sequences have been determined for phylogenetic analysis. these organisms were found to belong to a distinc ... | 1995 | 7547309 |
| phylogeny and potential transmission routes of midgut-associated endosymbionts of tsetse (diptera:glossinidae). | many tsetse species (diptera: glossinidae) harbour two morphologically different intracellular endosymbiotic microorganisms associated with gut tissue: primary (p) and secondary (s) endosymbionts. the p-endosymbionts of tsetse (wigglesworthia glossinidia) are sequestered in specialized epithelial cells, bacteriocytes, which form a structure (bacteriome) in the anterior portion of the gut. phylogenetic characterization of p-endsymbionts from the three subgenera of genus glossina has shown that th ... | 1997 | 9099582 |
| concordant evolution of a symbiont with its host insect species: molecular phylogeny of genus glossina and its bacteriome-associated endosymbiont, wigglesworthia glossinidia. | many arthropods with restricted diets rely on symbiotic associations for full nutrition and fecundity. tsetse flies (diptera: glossinidae) harbor three symbiotic organisms in addition to the parasitic african trypanosomes they transmit. two of these microorganisms reside in different gut cells, while the third organism is harbored in reproductive tissues and belongs to the genus wolbachia. the primary symbiont (genus wigglesworthia glossinidia) lives in differentiated epithelial cells (bacterioc ... | 1999 | 9873076 |
| tissue tropism, transmission and expression of foreign genes in vivo in midgut symbionts of tsetse flies. | tsetse flies (diptera: glossinidae) harbour three different symbiotic organisms in addition to the pathogenic african trypanosomes they transmit. the two gut-associated symbionts (primary, p; secondary, s) are enteric and are nutritionally required, whereas the third microorganism wolbachia (family rickettsiaceae) affects the reproductive biology of the insects it infects. the bacteriome-associated p-symbiont (wigglesworthia glossinidia) displays a concordant phylogeny with its host tsetse speci ... | 1999 | 9927181 |
| the endosymbionts of tsetse flies: manipulating host-parasite interactions. | through understanding the mechanisms by which tsetse endosymbionts potentiate trypanosome susceptibility in tsetse, it may be possible to engineer modified endosymbionts which, when introduced into tsetse, render these insects incapable of transmitting parasites. in this study we have assayed the effect of three different antibiotics on the endosymbiotic microflora of tsetse (glossina morsitans morsitans). we showed that the broad-spectrum antibiotics, ampicillin and tetracycline, have a dramati ... | 2001 | 11334953 |
| a novel application of gene arrays: escherichia coli array provides insight into the biology of the obligate endosymbiont of tsetse flies. | symbiotic associations with microorganisms are pivotal in many insects. yet, the functional roles of obligate symbionts have been difficult to study because it has not been possible to cultivate these organisms in vitro. the medically important tsetse fly (diptera: glossinidae) relies on its obligate endosymbiont, wigglesworthia glossinidia, a member of the enterobacteriaceae, closely related to escherichia coli, for fertility and possibly nutrition. we show here that the intracellular wiggleswo ... | 2001 | 11404467 |
| genome sequence of the endocellular obligate symbiont of tsetse flies, wigglesworthia glossinidia. | many insects that rely on a single food source throughout their developmental cycle harbor beneficial microbes that provide nutrients absent from their restricted diet. tsetse flies, the vectors of african trypanosomes, feed exclusively on blood and rely on one such intracellular microbe for nutritional provisioning and fecundity. as a result of co-evolution with hosts over millions of years, these mutualists have lost the ability to survive outside the sheltered environment of their host insect ... | 2002 | 12219091 |
| genome evolution in bacterial endosymbionts of insects. | many insect species rely on intracellular bacterial symbionts for their viability and fecundity. large-scale dna-sequence analyses are revealing the forces that shape the evolution of these bacterial associates and the genetic basis of their specialization to an intracellular lifestyle. the full genome sequences of two obligate mutualists, buchnera aphidicola of aphids and wigglesworthia glossinidia of tsetse flies, reveal substantial gene loss and an integration of host and symbiont metabolic f ... | 2002 | 12415315 |
| the major protein in the midgut of teneral glossina morsitans morsitans is a molecular chaperone from the endosymbiotic bacterium wigglesworthia glossinidia. | molecules in the midgut of the tsetse fly (diptera: glossinidiae) are thought to play an important role in the life cycle of african trypanosomes by influencing their initial establishment in the midgut and subsequent differentiation events that ultimately affect parasite transmission. it is thus important to determine the molecular composition of the tsetse midgut to aid in understanding disease transmission by these medically important insect vectors. here, we report that the most abundant pro ... | 2002 | 12530210 |
| [a symbiont of tsetse flies: wigglesworthia glossinidia]. | | 2003 | 12836409 |
| the genome sequence of blochmannia floridanus: comparative analysis of reduced genomes. | bacterial symbioses are widespread among insects, probably being one of the key factors of their evolutionary success. we present the complete genome sequence of blochmannia floridanus, the primary endosymbiont of carpenter ants. although these ants feed on a complex diet, this symbiosis very likely has a nutritional basis: blochmannia is able to supply nitrogen and sulfur compounds to the host while it takes advantage of the host metabolic machinery. remarkably, these bacteria lack all known ge ... | 2003 | 12886019 |
| gene expression level influences amino acid usage, but not codon usage, in the tsetse fly endosymbiont wigglesworthia. | wigglesworthia glossinidia brevipalpis, the obligate bacterial endosymbiont of the tsetse fly glossina brevipalpis, is characterized by extreme genome reduction and at nucleotide composition bias. here, multivariate statistical analyses are used to test the hypothesis that mutational bias and genetic drift shape synonymous codon usage and amino acid usage of wigglesworthia. the results show that synonymous codon usage patterns vary little across the genome and do not distinguish genes of putativ ... | 2003 | 12949182 |
| horizontal gene transfer of "prototype" nramp in bacteria. | eukaryotic nramp genes encode divalent metal ion permeases important for nutrition and resistance to microbial infection. bacterial homologs encode proton-dependent transporters of manganese (mnth), and other divalent metal ions. bacterial mnth were classified in three homology groups (a, b, c) and mnth c further subdivided in calpha, cbeta, cgamma. the proteins from c. tepidum (mnth b) and e. faecalis (mnth cbeta1, 2), divergent in sequence and hydropathy profile, conferred increased metal sens ... | 2003 | 14708570 |
| a phylogenomic study of endosymbiotic bacteria. | endosymbiotic bacteria of aphids, buchnera aphidicola, and tsetse flies, wigglesworthia glossinidia, are descendents of free-living gamma-proteobacteria. the acceleration of sequence evolution in the endosymbiont genomes is here estimated from a phylogenomic analysis of the gamma-proteobacteria. the tree topologies associated with the most highly conserved genes suggest that the endosymbionts form a sister group with escherichia coli, salmonella sp., and yersinia pestis. our results indicate tha ... | 2004 | 15014155 |
| the relationship between palindrome avoidance and intragenic codon usage variations: a monte carlo study. | several studies have shown that codon usage within genes varies, as it seems dependent on both codon context and codon position within the gene. given that palindromes in addition often are avoided in genomes, this study aimed at finding out if intragenic variations in codon usage may be a way to control the amount and location of palindromes. a monte carlo algorithm was written which resampled the codons in genes while keeping the amino acid sequence of the translation product constant. on the ... | 2004 | 15033465 |
| use of the genomic signature in bacterial classification and identification. | in this study we investigated the correlation between dinucleotide relative abundance values (the genomic signature) obtained from bacterial whole-genome sequences and two parameters widely used for bacterial classification, 16s rdna sequence similarity and dna-dna hybridisation values. twenty-eight completely sequenced bacterial genomes were included in the study. the correlation between the genomic signature and dna-dna hybridisation values was high and taxa that showed less than 30% dna-dna b ... | 2004 | 15046306 |
| strategies of the home-team: symbioses exploited for vector-borne disease control. | symbioses between eukaryotes and unicellular organisms are quite common, with examples copiously disseminated throughout the earth's biota. arthropods, in particular, owe much of their ecological success to their microbial flora, which often provide supplements either lacking in the limited host diet or which the hosts are unable to synthesize. in addition to harboring beneficial microbes, many arthropods (vectors) also transmit pathogens to the animals and plants upon which they prey. vector-bo ... | 2004 | 15223060 |
| evolutionary relatedness between glycolytic enzymes most frequently occurring in genomes. | more than 100 sequenced genomes were searched for genes coding for the enzymes involved in glycolysis in an effort to find the most frequently occurring ones. triosephosphate isomerase (tim), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapd), phosphoglycerate kinase (pgk) and enolase (enol) were found to be present in 90 investigated genomes all together. the final set consisted of 80 prokaryotic and 10 eukaryotic genomes. of the 80 prokaryotic genomes, 73 were from bacteria, 7 from archaea. two m ... | 2004 | 15259764 |
| nonhomogeneous model of sequence evolution indicates independent origins of primary endosymbionts within the enterobacteriales (gamma-proteobacteria). | standard methods of phylogenetic reconstruction are based on models that assume homogeneity of nucleotide composition among taxa. however, this assumption is often violated in biological data sets. in this study, we examine possible effects of nucleotide heterogeneity among lineages on the phylogenetic reconstruction of a bacterial group that spans a wide range of genomic nucleotide contents: obligately endosymbiotic bacteria and free-living or commensal species in the gamma-proteobacteria. we f ... | 2005 | 15525700 |
| metabolic interdependence of obligate intracellular bacteria and their insect hosts. | mutualistic associations of obligate intracellular bacteria and insects have attracted much interest in the past few years due to the evolutionary consequences for their genome structure. however, much less attention has been paid to the metabolic ramifications for these endosymbiotic microorganisms, which have to compete with but also to adapt to another metabolism--that of the host cell. this review attempts to provide insights into the complex physiological interactions and the evolution of m ... | 2004 | 15590782 |
| genome rearrangement distances and gene order phylogeny in gamma-proteobacteria. | genome rearrangements have been studied in 30 gamma-proteobacterial complete genomes by comparing the order of a reduced set of genes on the chromosome. this set included those genes fulfilling several characteristics, the main ones being that an ortholog was present in every genome and that none of them had been acquired by horizontal gene transfer. genome rearrangement distances were estimated based on either the number of breakpoints or the minimal number of inversions separating two genomes. ... | 2005 | 15772379 |
| increased expression of unusual ep repeat-containing proteins in the midgut of the tsetse fly (glossina) after bacterial challenge. | proteins containing a glutamic acid-proline (ep) repeat epitope were immunologically detected in midguts from eight species of glossina (tsetse flies). the molecular masses of the tsetse ep proteins differed among species groups. the amino acid sequence of one of these proteins, from glossina palpalis palpalis, was determined and compared to the sequence of a homologue, the tsetse midgut ep protein of glossina m. morsitans. the extended ep repeat domains comprised between 36% (g. m. morsitans) a ... | 2005 | 15804575 |
| interactions among multiple genomes: tsetse, its symbionts and trypanosomes. | insect-borne diseases exact a high public health burden and have a devastating impact on livestock and agriculture. to date, control has proved to be exceedingly difficult. one such disease that has plagued sub-saharan africa is caused by the protozoan african trypanosomes (trypanosoma species) and transmitted by tsetse flies (diptera: glossinidae). this presentation describes the biology of the tsetse fly and its interactions with trypanosomes as well as its symbionts. tsetse can harbor up to t ... | 2005 | 15894186 |
| gene expression levels influence amino acid usage and evolutionary rates in endosymbiotic bacteria. | most endosymbiotic bacteria have extremely reduced genomes, accelerated evolutionary rates, and strong at base compositional bias thought to reflect reduced efficacy of selection and increased mutational pressure. here, we present a comparative study of evolutionary forces shaping five fully sequenced bacterial endosymbionts of insects. the results of this study were three-fold: (i) stronger conservation of high expression genes at not just nonsynonymous, but also synonymous, sites. (ii) variati ... | 2005 | 15935576 |
| chance and necessity in the evolution of minimal metabolic networks. | it is possible to infer aspects of an organism's lifestyle from its gene content. can the reverse also be done? here we consider this issue by modelling evolution of the reduced genomes of endosymbiotic bacteria. the diversity of gene content in these bacteria may reflect both variation in selective forces and contingency-dependent loss of alternative pathways. using an in silico representation of the metabolic network of escherichia coli, we examine the role of contingency by repeatedly simulat ... | 2006 | 16572170 |
| dynamics of multiple symbiont density regulation during host development: tsetse fly and its microbial flora. | symbiotic associations often enhance hosts' physiological capabilities, allowing them to expand into restricted terrains, thus leading to biological diversification. stable maintenance of partners is essential for the overall biological system to succeed. the viviparous tsetse fly (diptera: glossinidae) offers an exceptional system to examine factors that influence the maintenance of multiple symbiotic organisms within a single eukaryotic host. this insect harbours three different symbionts repr ... | 2006 | 16618673 |
| tempo and mode of early gene loss in endosymbiotic bacteria from insects. | understanding evolutionary processes that drive genome reduction requires determining the tempo (rate) and the mode (size and types of deletions) of gene losses. in this study, we analysed five endosymbiotic genome sequences of the gamma-proteobacteria (three different buchnera aphidicola strains, wigglesworthia glossinidia, blochmannia floridanus) to test if gene loss could be driven by the selective importance of genes. we used a parsimony method to reconstruct a minimal ancestral genome of in ... | 2006 | 16848891 |
| interspecific transfer of bacterial endosymbionts between tsetse fly species: infection establishment and effect on host fitness. | tsetse flies (glossina spp.) can harbor up to three distinct species of endosymbiotic bacteria that exhibit unique modes of transmission and evolutionary histories with their host. two mutualist enterics, wigglesworthia and sodalis, are transmitted maternally to tsetse flies' intrauterine larvae. the third symbiont, from the genus wolbachia, parasitizes developing oocytes. in this study, we determined that sodalis isolates from several tsetse fly species are virtually identical based on a phylog ... | 2006 | 16950907 |
| dynamics of reductive genome evolution in mitochondria and obligate intracellular microbes. | reductive evolution in mitochondria and obligate intracellular microbes has led to a significant reduction in their genome size and guanine plus cytosine content (gc). we show that genome shrinkage during reductive evolution in prokaryotes follows an exponential decay pattern and provide a method to predict the extent of this decay on an evolutionary timescale. we validated predictions by comparison with estimated extents of genome reduction known to have occurred in mitochondria and buchnera ap ... | 2007 | 17108184 |
| an effect of 16s rrna intercistronic variability on coevolutionary analysis in symbiotic bacteria: molecular phylogeny of arsenophonus triatominarum. | the genes of ribosomal rna are the most popular and frequently used markers for bacterial phylogeny and reconstruction of insect-symbiont coevolution. in primary symbionts, such as buchnera and wigglesworthia, genome economization leads to the establishment of a single copy of these sequences. in phylogenetic studies, they provide sufficient information and yield phylogenetic trees congruent with host evolution. in contrast, other symbiotic lineages (e.g., the genus arsenophonus) carry a higher ... | 2008 | 18485654 |
| analysis of milk gland structure and function in glossina morsitans: milk protein production, symbiont populations and fecundity. | a key process in the tsetse reproductive cycle is the transfer of essential nutrients and bacterial symbionts from mother to intrauterine offspring. the tissue mediating this transfer is the milk gland. this work focuses upon the localization and function of two milk proteins (milk gland protein (gmmmgp) and transferrin (gmmtsf)) and the tsetse endosymbionts (sodalis and wigglesworthia), in the context of milk gland physiology. fluorescent in situ hybridization (fish) and immunohistochemical ana ... | 2008 | 18647605 |
| complete rpob gene sequencing as a suitable supplement to dna-dna hybridization for bacterial species and genus delineation. | dna-dna hybridization (ddh), the gold standard for bacterial species delineation, is a laborious method and the alternative, average nucleotide identity (ani), a genomic sequence-derived parameter, is not applicable to non-sequenced species. a universal cut-off value to delineate bacterial species does not exist, yet a ddh value <70 % and ani <95+/-0.5 % have proved useful in selected examples. we herein compare published values for ddh and ani with sequence similarity of rpob gene sequences ret ... | 2008 | 18676461 |
| the obligate mutualist wigglesworthia glossinidia influences reproduction, digestion, and immunity processes of its host, the tsetse fly. | tsetse flies (diptera: glossinidae) are vectors for trypanosome parasites, the agents of the deadly sleeping sickness disease in africa. tsetse also harbor two maternally transmitted enteric mutualist endosymbionts: the primary intracellular obligate wigglesworthia glossinidia and the secondary commensal sodalis glossinidius. both endosymbionts are transmitted to the intrauterine progeny through the milk gland secretions of the viviparous female. we administered various antibiotics either contin ... | 2008 | 18689507 |
| interactions between mutualist wigglesworthia and tsetse peptidoglycan recognition protein (pgrp-lb) influence trypanosome transmission. | tsetse flies, the sole vectors of african trypanosomes, have coevolved with mutualistic endosymbiont wigglesworthia glossinidiae. elimination of wigglesworthia renders tsetse sterile and increases their trypanosome infection susceptibility. we show that a tsetse peptidoglycan recognition protein (pgrp-lb) is crucial for symbiotic tolerance and trypanosome infection processes. tsetse pgrp-lb is expressed in the wigglesworthia-harboring organ (bacteriome) in the midgut, and its level of expression ... | 2009 | 19587241 |
| first isolation of enterobacter, enterococcus, and acinetobacter spp. as inhabitants of the tsetse fly (glossina palpalis palpalis) midgut. | this paper reports the first evidence of the presence of bacteria, other than the three previously described as symbionts, wigglesworthia glossinidia, wolbachia, and sodalis glossinidius, in the midgut of glossina palpalis palpalis, the tsetse fly, a vector of the chronic form of human african trypanosomiasis in sub-saharan african countries. based on the morphological, nutritional, physiological, and phylogenetic results, we identified enterobacter, enterococcus, and acinetobacter spp. as inhab ... | 2009 | 19800031 |
| nutrient provisioning facilitates homeostasis between tsetse fly (diptera: glossinidae) symbionts. | host-associated microbial interactions may involve genome complementation, driving-enhanced communal efficiency and stability. the tsetse fly (diptera: glossinidae), the obligate vector of african trypanosomes (trypanosoma brucei subspp.), harbours two enteric gammaproteobacteria symbionts: wigglesworthia glossinidia and sodalis glossinidius. host coevolution has streamlined the wigglesworthia genome to complement the exclusively sanguivorous tsetse lifestyle. comparative genomics reveal that th ... | 2010 | 20356887 |
| molecular characterization and localization of the obligate endosymbiotic bacterium in the birch catkin bug kleidocerys resedae (heteroptera: lygaeidae, ischnorhynchinae). | in contrast to specific bacterial symbionts of many stinkbugs, which are harboured extracellularly in the lumina of midgut sacs or tubular outgrowths, the obligate endosymbiont of birch catkin bug kleidocerys resedae (heteroptera: lygaeidae) resides in a red-coloured, raspberry-shaped mycetome, localized abdominally, close to the midgut section. phylogenetic analysis, based on the 16s rrna gene and the groel (chaperonin) gene, showed that the bacteria belong to the gamma-subdivision of the prote ... | 2010 | 20500529 |
| mobile genetic element proliferation and gene inactivation impact over the genome structure and metabolic capabilities of sodalis glossinidius, the secondary endosymbiont of tsetse flies. | genome reduction is a common evolutionary process in symbiotic and pathogenic bacteria. this process has been extensively characterized in bacterial endosymbionts of insects, where primary mutualistic bacteria represent the most extreme cases of genome reduction consequence of a massive process of gene inactivation and loss during their evolution from free-living ancestors. sodalis glossinidius, the secondary endosymbiont of tsetse flies, contains one of the few complete genomes of bacteria at t ... | 2010 | 20649993 |
| the tsetse fly glossina fuscipes fuscipes (diptera: glossina) harbours a surprising diversity of bacteria other than symbionts. | three different bacterial species are regularly described from tsetse flies. however, no broad screens have been performed to investigate the existence of other bacteria in this medically and agriculturally important vector insect. utilising both culture dependent and independent methods we show that kenyan populations of glossina fuscipes fuscipes harbour a surprising diversity of bacteria. bacteria were isolated from 72% of flies with 23 different bacterial species identified. the firmicutes p ... | 2011 | 21203841 |
| tsetse immune system maturation requires the presence of obligate symbionts in larvae. | beneficial microbial symbionts serve important functions within their hosts, including dietary supplementation and maintenance of immune system homeostasis. little is known about the mechanisms that enable these bacteria to induce specific host phenotypes during development and into adulthood. here we used the tsetse fly, glossina morsitans, and its obligate mutualist, wigglesworthia glossinidia, to investigate the co-evolutionary adaptations that influence the development of host physiological ... | 2011 | 21655301 |
| tsetse flies rely on symbiotic wigglesworthia for immune system development. | | 2011 | 21655305 |
| reductive evolution of bacterial genome in insect gut environment. | obligate endocellular symbiotic bacteria of insects and other organisms generally exhibit drastic genome reduction. recently, it was shown that symbiotic gut bacteria of some stinkbugs also have remarkably reduced genomes. here, we report the complete genome sequence of such a gut bacterium ishikawaella capsulata of the plataspid stinkbug megacopta punctatissima. gene repertoire and evolutionary patterns, including at richness and elevated evolutionary rate, of the 745,590 bp genome were strikin ... | 2011 | 21737395 |
| Influence of host phylogeographic patterns and incomplete lineage sorting on within-species genetic variability in Wigglesworthia species, obligate symbionts of tsetse flies. | Vertical transmission of obligate symbionts generates a predictable evolutionary history of symbionts that reflects that of their hosts. In insects, evolutionary associations between symbionts and their hosts have been investigated primarily among species, leaving population-level processes largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) bacterial symbiont, Wigglesworthia glossinidia, to determine whether observed codiversification of symbiont and tsetse host sp ... | 2011 | 21948847 |
| wolbachia symbiont infections induce strong cytoplasmic incompatibility in the tsetse fly glossina morsitans. | tsetse flies are vectors of the protozoan parasite african trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness disease in humans and nagana in livestock. although there are no effective vaccines and efficacious drugs against this parasite, vector reduction methods have been successful in curbing the disease, especially for nagana. potential vector control methods that do not involve use of chemicals is a genetic modification approach where flies engineered to be parasite resistant are allowed to replace ... | 2011 | 22174680 |
| multiple origins of endosymbiosis within the enterobacteriaceae (gamma-proteobacteria): convergence of complex phylogenetic approaches. | abstract: background: the bacterial family enterobacteriaceae gave rise to a variety of symbiotic forms, from the loosely associated commensals, often designated as secondary (s) symbionts, to obligate mutualists, called primary (p) symbionts. determination of the evolutionary processes behind this phenomenon has long been hampered by the unreliability of phylogenetic reconstructions within this group of bacteria. the main reasons have been the absence of sufficient data, the highly derived nat ... | 2011 | 22201529 |