| Autor: |
Wang GH; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China., Sun BF; Disease Genomics and Individualized Medicine Laboratory, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China., Xiong TL; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China., Wang YK; College of Life Sciences, Hebei University Baoding, China., Murfin KE; Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA., Xiao JH; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China., Huang DW; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China; College of Life Sciences, Hebei UniversityBaoding, China. |
| Abstrakt: |
Phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is common in free-living bacteria, and many transferred genes can play a significant role in their new bacterial hosts. However, there are few reports concerning phage-mediated HGT in endosymbionts (obligate intracellular bacteria within animal or plant hosts), such as Wolbachia . The Wolbachia -infecting temperate phage WO can actively shift among Wolbachia genomes and has the potential to mediate HGT between Wolbachia strains. In the present study, we extend previous findings by validating that the phage WO can mediate transfer of non-phage genes. To do so, we utilized bioinformatic, phylogenetic, and molecular analyses based on all sequenced Wolbachia and phage WO genomes. Our results show that the phage WO can mediate HGT between Wolbachia strains, regardless of whether the transferred genes originate from Wolbachia or other unrelated bacteria. |
