| genome sequence of blochmannia pennsylvanicus indicates parallel evolutionary trends among bacterial mutualists of insects. | the distinct lifestyle of obligately intracellular bacteria can alter fundamental forces that drive and constrain genome change. in this study, sequencing the 792-kb genome of blochmannia pennsylvanicus, an obligate endosymbiont of camponotus pennsylvanicus, enabled us to trace evolutionary changes that occurred in the context of a bacterial-ant association. comparison to the genome of blochmannia floridanus reveals differential loss of genes involved in cofactor biosynthesis, the composition an ... | 2005 | 16077009 |
| endosymbiont gene functions impaired and rescued by polymerase infidelity at poly(a) tracts. | among host-dependent bacteria that have evolved by extreme reductive genome evolution, long-term bacterial endosymbionts of insects have the smallest (160-790 kb) and most a + t-rich (>70%) bacterial genomes known to date. these genomes are riddled with poly(a) tracts, and 5-50% of genes contain tracts of 10 as or more. here, we demonstrate transcriptional slippage at poly(a) tracts within genes of buchnera aphidicola associated with aphids and blochmannia pennsylvanicus associated with ants. se ... | 2008 | 18815381 |