ArticleBMC biology2014
A substrate ambiguous enzyme facilitates genome reduction in an intracellular symbiont.
Article in BMC biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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29 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbial single-cell omics in situ.Cell genomics · 2026Article
- How do bacterial endosymbionts work with so few genes?PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Co-option of a conserved host glutamine transporter facilitates aphid/Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Starving the Beast: Limiting Coenzyme A Biosynthesis to Prevent Disease and Transmission in Malaria.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Coevolution of Metabolic Pathways in Blattodea and TheirMicrobiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Elucidation of host and symbiont contributions to peptidoglycan metabolism based on comparative genomics of eight aphid subfamilies and their Buchnera.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Autophagy Regulates Whitefly-Symbiont Metabolic Interactions.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
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- Genetic innovations in animal-microbe symbioses.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2022Review
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- Lysine provisioning by horizontally acquired genes promotes mutual dependence between whitefly and two intracellular symbionts.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- Pantothenate mediates the coordination of whitefly and symbiont fitness.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Hologenome analysis reveals dual symbiosis in the deep-sea hydrothermal vent snail Gigantopelta aegis.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Selection and Validation of Reference Genes For qRT-PCR Analysis ofFrontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- The Role of Gene Duplication in the Divergence of Enzyme Function: A Comparative Approach.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
- Biotin provisioning by horizontally transferred genes from bacteria confers animal fitness benefits.The ISME journal · 2020Article
- How enzyme promiscuity and horizontal gene transfer contribute to metabolic innovation.The FEBS journal · 2020Review
- Obligate bacterial endosymbionts limit thermal tolerance of insect host species.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Genome analyses of a placozoan rickettsial endosymbiont show a combination of mutualistic and parasitic traits.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Trading amino acids at the aphid-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGenome evolution in intracellular microbial symbionts is characterized by gene loss, generating some of the smallest and most gene-poor genomes known. As a result of gene loss these genomes commonly contain metabolic pathways that are fragmented relative to their free-living relatives. The evolutionary retention of fragmented metabolic pathways in the gene-poor genomes of endosymbionts suggests that they are functional. However, it is not always clear how they maintain functionality. To date, the fragmented metabolic pathways of endosymbionts have been shown to maintain functionality through complementation by host genes, complementation by genes of another endosymbiont and complementation by genes in host genomes that have been horizontally acquired from a microbial source that is not the endosymbiont. Here, we demonstrate a fourth mechanism.
resultsWe investigate the evolutionary retention of a fragmented pathway for the essential nutrient pantothenate (vitamin B5) in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum endosymbiosis with Buchnera aphidicola. Using quantitative analysis of gene expression we present evidence for complementation of the Buchnera pantothenate biosynthesis pathway by host genes. Further, using complementation assays in an Escherichia coli mutant we demonstrate functional replacement of a pantothenate biosynthesis enzyme, 2-dehydropantoate 2-reductase (E.C. 1.1.1.169), by an endosymbiont gene, ilvC, encoding a substrate ambiguous enzyme.
conclusionsEarlier studies have speculated that missing enzyme steps in fragmented endosymbiont metabolic pathways are completed by adaptable endosymbiont enzymes from other pathways. Here, we experimentally demonstrate completion of a fragmented endosymbiont vitamin biosynthesis pathway by recruitment of a substrate ambiguous enzyme from another pathway. In addition, this work extends host/symbiont metabolic collaboration in the aphid/Buchnera symbiosis from amino acid metabolism to include vitamin biosynthesis.
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