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Complete WO phage sequences reveal their dynamic evolutionary trajectories and putative functional elements required for integration into the Wolbachia genome.

ABSTRACT: Wolbachia endosymbionts are ubiquitously found in diverse insects including many medical and hygienic pests, causing a variety of reproductive phenotypes, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, and thereby efficiently spreading in host insect populations. Recently, Wolbachia-mediated approaches to pest control and management have been proposed, but the application of these approaches has been hindered by the lack of genetic transformation techniques for symbiotic bacteria. Here, we report the genome and structure of active bacteriophages from a Wolbachia endosymbiont. From the Wolbachia strain wCauB infecting the moth Ephestia kuehniella two closely related WO prophages, WOcauB2 of 43,016 bp with 47 open reading frames (ORFs) and WOcauB3 of 45,078 bp with 46 ORFs, were characterized. In each of the prophage genomes, an integrase gene and an attachment site core sequence were identified, which are putatively involved in integration and excision of the mobile genetic elements. The 3' region of the prophages encoded genes with sequence motifs related to bacterial virulence and protein-protein interactions, which might represent effector molecules that affect cellular processes and functions of their host bacterium and/or insect. Database searches and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the prophage genes have experienced dynamic evolutionary trajectories. Genes similar to the prophage genes were found across divergent bacterial phyla, highlighting the active and mobile nature of the genetic elements. We suggest that the active WO prophage genomes and their constituent sequence elements would provide a clue to development of a genetic transformation vector for Wolbachia endosymbionts.

SUBMITTER: Tanaka K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2737910 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Complete WO phage sequences reveal their dynamic evolutionary trajectories and putative functional elements required for integration into the Wolbachia genome.

Tanaka Kohjiro K Furukawa Seiichi S Nikoh Naruo N Sasaki Tetsuhiko T Fukatsu Takema T

Applied and environmental microbiology 20090710 17

Wolbachia endosymbionts are ubiquitously found in diverse insects including many medical and hygienic pests, causing a variety of reproductive phenotypes, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, and thereby efficiently spreading in host insect populations. Recently, Wolbachia-mediated approaches to pest control and management have been proposed, but the application of these approaches has been hindered by the lack of genetic transformation techniques for symbiotic bacteria. Here, we report the geno ...[more]

PMID: 19592535

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Project description:Wolbachia are maternally transmitted endosymbionts that often alter their arthropod hosts' biology to favor the success of infected females, and they may also serve as a speciation microbe driving reproductive isolation. Two of these host manipulations include killing males outright and reducing offspring survival when infected males mate with uninfected females, a phenomenon known as cytoplasmic incompatibility. Little is known about the mechanisms behind these phenotypes, but interestingly either effect can be caused by the same Wolbachia strain when infecting different hosts. For instance, wRec causes cytoplasmic incompatibility in its native host Drosophila recens and male killing in D. subquinaria. The discovery of prophage WO elements in most arthropod Wolbachia has generated the hypothesis that WO may encode genes involved in these reproductive manipulations. However, PCR screens for the WO minor capsid gene indicated that wRec lacks phage WO. Thus, wRec seemed to provide an example where phage WO is not needed for Wolbachia-induced reproductive manipulation. To enable investigation of the mechanism of phenotype switching in different host backgrounds, and to examine the unexpected absence of phage WO, we sequenced the genome of wRec. Analyses reveal that wRec diverged from wMel approximately 350,000 years ago, mainly by genome reduction in the phage regions. While it lost the minor capsid gene used in standard PCR screens for phage WO, it retained two regions encompassing 33 genes, several of which have previously been associated with reproductive parasitism. Thus, WO gene involvement in reproductive manipulation cannot be excluded and reliance on single gene PCR should not be used to rule out the presence of phage WO in Wolbachia. Additionally, the genome sequence for wRec will enable transcriptomic and proteomic studies that may help elucidate the Wolbachia mechanisms of altered reproductive manipulations associated with host switching, perhaps among the 33 remaining phage genes.

Dataset Information

Complete WO phage sequences reveal their dynamic evolutionary trajectories and putative functional elements required for integration into the Wolbachia genome.

Publications

Complete WO phage sequences reveal their dynamic evolutionary trajectories and putative functional elements required for integration into the Wolbachia genome.

Similar Datasets

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