ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016
A ribosome-inactivating protein in a Drosophila defensive symbiont.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Friends or foes: Unraveling the tsetse fly-Spiroplasma symbiosis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Review
- Ribosome-inactivating proteins in bacteria.Microbial genomics · 2026Review
- Analysis of the genomes of a male-killingMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Spiroplasma Are Protective Heritable Symbionts With Low Physiological Impact in the Drosophilid Fly Zaprionus kolodkinae.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- A human-associatediScience · 2026Article
- Article
- Host-associated beneficial gut microbiota boosts induced immunity and limits immune deployment costs in bumblebees.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- RNA metagenomic profiling of mosquito viromes associated with Vector-Borne diseases in Quebec, Canada.PloS one · 2026Article
- Article
- Effector innovation in genome-reduced phytoplasmas and other host-dependent mollicutes.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Ecological Mercenaries: Why Aphids Remain Premier Models for the Study of Ecological Symbiosis.Insects · 2025Review
- Comparative genomics and transcriptomics of theResearch square · 2025Article
- Article
- Diverse toxin repertoire but limited metabolic capacities inferred from the draft genome assemblies of threeMicrobial genomics · 2025Article
- Review
- The ecology, evolution, and physiology of Cardinium: a widespread heritable endosymbiont of invertebrates.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Evolution of specialized toxin arsenals in a bacterial symbiont of arthropods.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Potential effect ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Spiroplasma endosymbiont reduction of host lipid synthesis and Stomoxyn-like peptide contribute to trypanosome resistance in the tsetse fly Glossina fuscipes.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- The endosymbiontmBio · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vertically transmitted symbionts that protect their hosts against parasites and pathogens are well known from insects, yet the underlying mechanisms of symbiont-mediated defense are largely unclear. A striking example of an ecologically important defensive symbiosis involves the woodland fly Drosophila neotestacea, which is protected by the bacterial endosymbiont Spiroplasma when parasitized by the nematode Howardula aoronymphium. The benefit of this defense strategy has led to the rapid spread of Spiroplasma throughout the range of D. neotestacea, although the molecular basis for this protection has been unresolved. Here, we show that Spiroplasma encodes a ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) related to Shiga-like toxins from enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and that Howardula ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is depurinated during Spiroplasma-mediated protection of D. neotestacea. First, we show that recombinant Spiroplasma RIP catalyzes depurination of 28S rRNAs in a cell-free assay, as well as Howardula rRNA in vitro at the canonical RIP target site within the α-sarcin/ricin loop (SRL) of 28S rRNA. We then show that Howardula parasites in Spiroplasma-infected flies show a strong signal of rRNA depurination consistent with RIP-dependent modification and large decreases in the proportion of 28S rRNA intact at the α-sarcin/ricin loop. Notably, host 28S rRNA is largely unaffected, suggesting targeted specificity. Collectively, our study identifies a novel RIP in an insect defensive symbiont and suggests an underlying RIP-dependent mechanism in Spiroplasma-mediated defense.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.