ArticleBMC microbiology2012
The expression of one ankyrin pk2 allele of the WO prophage is correlated with the Wolbachia feminizing effect in isopods.
Article in BMC microbiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Review
- Tracking tripartite interaction dynamics: isolation, integration, and influence of bacteriophages in theFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
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- Remnants of horizontal transfers of Wolbachia genes in a Wolbachia-free woodwasp.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Bacteriophage-Bacteria Interactions in the Gut: From Invertebrates to Mammals.Annual review of virology · 2021Review
- Cells within cells: Rickettsiales and the obligate intracellular bacterial lifestyle.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2021Review
- Isolation and characterization of a novel bacteriophage WO from Allonemobius socius crickets in Missouri.PloS one · 2021Article
- Diminutive, degraded but dissimilar:Microbial genomics · 2020Article
- Sensing, Signaling, and Secretion: A Review and Analysis of Systems for Regulating Host Interaction inGenes · 2020Review
- More than Simple Parasites: the Sociobiology of Bacteriophages and Their Bacterial Hosts.mBio · 2020Review
- Article
- Genomic evidence for plant-parasitic nematodes as the earliest Wolbachia hosts.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Eukaryotic association module in phage WO genomes from Wolbachia.Nature communications · 2016Article
- Article
- Large proportion of genes in one cryptic WO prophage genome are actively and sex-specifically transcribed in a fig wasp species.BMC genomics · 2014Article
- The complexity of virus systems: the case of endosymbionts.Current opinion in microbiology · 2012Article
- Survey of endosymbionts in the Diaphorina citri metagenome and assembly of a Wolbachia wDi draft genome.PloS one · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe maternally inherited α-Proteobacteria Wolbachia pipientis is an obligate endosymbiont of nematodes and arthropods, in which they induce a variety of reproductive alterations, including Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) and feminization. The genome of the feminizing wVulC Wolbachia strain harboured by the isopod Armadillidium vulgare has been sequenced and is now at the final assembly step. It contains an unusually high number of ankyrin motif-containing genes, two of which are homologous to the phage-related pk1 and pk2 genes thought to contribute to the CI phenotype in Culex pipiens. These genes encode putative bacterial effectors mediating Wolbachia-host protein-protein interactions via their ankyrin motifs.
resultsTo test whether these Wolbachia homologs are potentially involved in altering terrestrial isopod reproduction, we determined the distribution and expression of both pk1 and pk2 genes in the 3 Wolbachia strains that induce CI and in 5 inducing feminization of their isopod hosts. Aside from the genes being highly conserved, we found a substantial copy number variation among strains, and that is linked to prophage diversity. Transcriptional analyses revealed expression of one pk2 allele (pk2b2) only in the feminizing Wolbachia strains of isopods.
conclusionsThese results reveal the need to investigate the functions of Wolbachia ankyrin gene products, in particular those of Pk2, and their host targets with respect to host sex manipulation.
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