The genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus: Comparative analysis of reduced genomes
- Rosario Gil*,
- Francisco J. Silva*,
- Evelyn Zientz†,
- François Delmotte*,‡,
- Fernando González-Candelas*,
- Amparo Latorre*,
- Carolina Rausell*,§,
- Judith Kamerbeek¶,∥,
- Jürgen Gadau**,
- Bert Hölldobler**,
- Roeland C. H. J. van Ham¶,††,
- Roy Gross†, and
- Andrés Moya*,‡‡
- *Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, Apartat Oficial 2085, 46071 Valencia, Spain; †Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie and **Lehrstuhl für Soziobiologie und Verhaltensphysiologie, Biozentrum der Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; and ¶Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial–Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Carretera de Ajalvir kilómetro 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
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Contributed by Bert Hölldobler, June 6, 2003
Abstract
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 genes involved in replication initiation (dnaA, priA, and recA). The phylogenetic analysis of a set of conserved protein-coding genes shows that Bl. floridanus is phylogenetically related to Buchnera aphidicola and Wigglesworthia glossinidia, the other endosymbiotic bacteria whose complete genomes have been sequenced so far. Comparative analysis of the five known genomes from insect endosymbiotic bacteria reveals they share only 313 genes, a number that may be close to the minimum gene set necessary to sustain endosymbiotic life.
Footnotes
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↵ ‡‡ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: andres.moya{at}uv.es.
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↵ ‡ Present address: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine de la Grande Ferrade, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon Cedex, France.
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↵ § Present address: Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Apartado Postal 510-3, Cuernavaca 62250, Morelos, Mexico.
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↵ ∥ Present address: Keygene N. V., P.O. Box 216, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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↵ †† Present address: Plant Research International B. V., Business Unit Genomics, N. V., P.O. Box16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ database (accession no. BX248583).
- Copyright © 2003, The National Academy of Sciences
