Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on November 9, 2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msl171
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
24/2/427    most recent
msl171v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gavotte, L.
Right arrow Articles by Vavre, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gavotte, L.
Right arrow Articles by Vavre, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted November 3, 2006

Research Article

A Survey of the Bacteriophage WO in the Endosymbiotic Bacteria Wolbachia

Laurent Gavotte 1 *, Hélène Henri 1, Richard Stouthamer 2, Delphine Charif 1, Sylvain Charlat 3, Michel Boulétreau 1, and Fabrice Vavre 1

1 Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (UMR 5558); CNRS; IFR 41; Univ. Lyon 1, 43 bd 11 nov, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France
2 Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
3 Biology Department, University College London, London, NW1 2HE, United Kingdom

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Laurent Gavotte, E-mail: gavotte{at}biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr


  Abstract

Bacteriophages are common viruses infecting prokaryotes. In addition to their deadly effect, phages are also involved in several evolutionary processes of bacteria, such as coding functional proteins potentially beneficial to them, or favouring horizontal gene transfer through transduction. The particular lifestyle of obligatory intracellular bacteria usually protects them from phage infection. However, Wolbachia, an intracellular alpha-proteobacterium, infecting diverse arthropod and nematode species and best known for the reproductive alterations it induces, harbours a phage named WO, which has recently been proven to be lytic. Here, phage infection was checked in 31 Wolbachia strains, which induce 5 different effects in their hosts, and infect 25 insect species and 3 nematodes. Only the Wolbachia infecting nematodes and Trichogramma were found devoid of phage infection. All the 25 detected phages were characterised by the DNA sequence of a minor capsid protein gene. Based on all data currently available, phylogenetic analyses show a lack of congruency between Wolbachia or insect and phage WO phylogenies, indicating numerous horizontal transfers of phage among the different Wolbachia strains. The absence of relation between phage phylogeny and the effects induced by Wolbachia suggests that WO is not directly involved in these effects. Implications on phage WO evolution are discussed.

Keywords: Wolbachia; phage WO; insect; phylogeny.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Appl. Environ. Microbiol.Home page
K. Tanaka, S. Furukawa, N. Nikoh, T. Sasaki, and T. Fukatsu
Complete WO Phage Sequences Reveal Their Dynamic Evolutionary Trajectories and Putative Functional Elements Required for Integration into the Wolbachia Genome
Appl. Envir. Microbiol., September 1, 2009; 75(17): 5676 - 5686.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Appl. Environ. Microbiol.Home page
P. H. Degnan and N. A. Moran
Diverse Phage-Encoded Toxins in a Protective Insect Endosymbiont
Appl. Envir. Microbiol., November 1, 2008; 74(21): 6782 - 6791.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
R. Cordaux, S. Pichon, A. Ling, P. Perez, C. Delaunay, F. Vavre, D. Bouchon, and P. Greve
Intense Transpositional Activity of Insertion Sequences in an Ancient Obligate Endosymbiont
Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2008; 25(9): 1889 - 1896.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.