| Popis: |
The best studied insect nutritional endosymbiosis is that of aphids and Buchnera aphidicola. Work on the aphid/Buchnera model has uncovered multiple regulatory systems within this symbiosis that include gene losses, genome rearrangements, complementary metabolic pathways, feedback inhibition loops involving amino acid transporters, miRNAs, small RNAs as well as a conserved growth pathway. Taken together, this work on how an endosymbiont is integrated into its host at a cellular and molecular level challenges the idea of a harmonious mutualism. Here I describe each of the known regulatory systems in the aphid/Buchnera model of endosymbiosis, offer some new interpretations, highlight knowledge gaps and conclude by arguing that the evolution of host/endosymbiont integration is littered with signatures of conflict. |
