Genome analysis of “Candidatus Aschnera chinzeii,” the bacterial endosymbiont of the blood-sucking bat fly Penicillidia jenynsii (Insecta: Diptera: Nycteribiidae)

Insect–microbe endosymbiotic associations are omnipresent in nature, wherein the symbiotic microbes often play pivotal biological roles for their host insects. In particular, insects utilizing nutritionally imbalanced food sources are dependent on specific microbial symbionts to compensate for the nutritional deficiency via provisioning of B vitamins in blood-feeding insects, such as tsetse flies, lice, and bedbugs. Bat flies of the family Nycteribiidae (Diptera) are blood-sucking ectoparasites of bats and shown to be associated with co-speciating bacterial endosymbiont “Candidatus Aschnera chinzeii,” although functional aspects of the microbial symbiosis have been totally unknown. In this study, we report the first complete genome sequence of Aschnera from the bristled bat fly Penicillidia jenynsii. The Aschnera genome consisted of a 748,020 bp circular chromosome and a 18,747 bp circular plasmid. The chromosome encoded 603 protein coding genes (including 3 pseudogenes), 33 transfer RNAs, and 1 copy of 16S/23S/5S ribosomal RNA operon. The plasmid contained 10 protein coding genes, whose biological function was elusive. The genome size, 0.77 Mbp, was drastically reduced in comparison with 4–6 Mbp genomes of free-living γ-proteobacteria. Accordingly, the Aschnera genome was devoid of many important functional genes, such as synthetic pathway genes for purines, pyrimidines, and essential amino acids. On the other hand, the Aschnera genome retained complete or near-complete synthetic pathway genes for biotin (vitamin B7), tetrahydrofolate (vitamin B9), riboflavin (vitamin B2), and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (vitamin B6), suggesting that Aschnera provides these vitamins and cofactors that are deficient in the blood meal of the host bat fly. Similar retention patterns of the synthetic pathway genes for vitamins and cofactors were also observed in the endosymbiont genomes of other blood-sucking insects, such as Riesia of human lice, Arsenophonus of louse flies, and Wigglesworthia of tsetse flies, which may be either due to convergent evolution in the blood-sucking host insects or reflecting the genomic architecture of Arsenophonus-allied bacteria

Perplexing dynamics of Wolbachia proteins for cytoplasmic incompatibility

The mechanism of symbiont-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) has been a long-standing mystery. A new study on Wolbachia's Cif proteins in PLOS Biology provides supportive evidence for the "Host modification model, " although the alternative "Toxin-antidote model" is still in the running

Male-killing symbiont damages host's dosage-compensated sex chromosome to induce embryonic apoptosis

Some symbiotic bacteria are capable of interfering with host reproduction in selfish ways. How such bacteria can manipulate host's sex-related mechanisms is of fundamental interest encompassing cell, developmental and evolutionary biology. Here, we uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying Spiroplasma-induced embryonic male lethality in Drosophila melanogaster. Transcriptomic analysis reveals that many genes related to DNA damage and apoptosis are up-regulated specifically in infected male embryos. Detailed genetic and cytological analyses demonstrate that male-killing Spiroplasma causes DNA damage on the male X chromosome interacting with the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex. The damaged male X chromosome exhibits a chromatin bridge during mitosis, and bridge breakage triggers sex-specific abnormal apoptosis via p53-dependent pathways. Notably, the MSL complex is not only necessary but also sufficient for this cytotoxic process. These results highlight symbiont's sophisticated strategy to target host's sex chromosome and recruit host's molecular cascades toward massive apoptosis in a sex-specific manner

How do gall-forming social aphids keep their closed nest clean?

Interactive technology assessment (iTA) provides an answer to the ethical problem of normative bias in evaluation research. This normative bias develops when relevant perspectives on the evaluand (the thing being evaluated) are neglected. In iTA this bias is overcome by incorporating different perspectives into the assessment. As a consequence, justification of decisions based on the assessment is provided by stakeholders having achieved agreement. In this article, agreement is identified with wide reflective equilibrium to show that it indeed has the potential of justifying decisions. We work out several conditions for this agreement to be achievable and just

Biological Role of Nardonella Endosymbiont in Its Weevil Host

Weevils constitute the most species-rich animal group with over 60,000 described species, many of which possess specialized symbiotic organs and harbor bacterial endosymbionts. Among the diverse microbial associates of weevils, Nardonella spp. represent the most ancient and widespread endosymbiont lineage, having co-speciated with the host weevils for over 125 million years. Thus far, however, no empirical work on the role of Nardonella for weevil biology has been reported. Here we investigated the biological role of the Nardonella endosymbiont for the West Indian sweet potato weevil, Euscepes postfasciatus. This insect is an experimentally tractable pest insect that can easily be reared on a natural diet of sweet potato root as well as on an agar-based artificial diet. By larval feeding on an antibiotic-containing artificial diet, Nardonella infection was effectively eliminated from the treated insects. The antibiotic-treated insects exhibited significantly lighter body weight and lower growth rate than the control insects. Then, the antibiotic-treated insects and the control insects were respectively allowed to mate and oviposit on fresh sweet potatoes without the antibiotic. The offspring of the antibiotic-treated insects, which were all Nardonella-negative, exhibited significantly lighter body weight, smaller body size, lower growth rate and paler body color in comparison with the offspring of the control insects, which were all Nardonella-positive. In conclusion, the Nardonella endosymbiont is involved in normal growth and development of the host weevil. The biological role of the endosymbiont probably underlies the long-lasting host-symbiont co-speciation in the evolutionary course of weevils