Rickettsia as obligate and mycetomic

Perotti, M. Alejandra; Clarke, Heather K.; Turner, Bryan; Braig, Henk R.

doi:10.1096/fj.06-5870fje

Cited by 103 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Although Rickettsia species have been reported to function as primary nutritional symbionts in one host, reproductive manipulators in others, and as an insect-vectored plant pathogen [4,[18][19][20], their role in the vast majority of hosts is unknown [16,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal transmission of the insect symbiont Rickettsia is plant-mediated

et al. 2011

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Bacteria in the genus Rickettsia, best known as vertebrate pathogens vectored by blood-feeding arthropods, can also be found in phytophagous insects. The presence of closely related bacterial symbionts in evolutionarily distant arthropod hosts presupposes a means of horizontal transmission, but no mechanism for this transmission has been described. Using a combination of experiments with live insects, molecular analyses and microscopy, we found that Rickettsia were transferred from an insect host (the whitefly Bemisia tabaci) to a plant, moved inside the phloem, and could be acquired by other whiteflies. In one experiment, Rickettsia was transferred from the whitefly host to leaves of cotton, basil and black nightshade, where the bacteria were restricted to the phloem cells of the plant. In another experiment, Rickettsia-free adult whiteflies, physically segregated but sharing a cotton leaf with Rickettsia-plus individuals, acquired the Rickettsia at a high rate. Plants can serve as a reservoir for horizontal transmission of Rickettsia, a mechanism which may explain the occurrence of phylogenetically similar symbionts among unrelated phytophagous insect species. This plant-mediated transmission route may also exist in other insect -symbiont systems and, since symbionts may play a critical role in the ecology and evolution of their hosts, serve as an immediate and powerful tool for accelerated evolution.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal transmission of the insect symbiont Rickettsia is plant-mediated

et al. 2011

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“…Other rickettsiae that have never been associated with human disease and have little or no pathogenicity in laboratory animals may exist as strict arthropod endosymbionts (4,35). The close association and complex interactions between endosymbiotic rickettsiae and arthropods are emphasized by recent evidence that some rickettsial species function as reproductive manipulators of their hosts (19,35,36), a role historically associated with Wolbachia (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae). The traditional focus of study on Rickettsia spp.…”

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confidence: 99%

Transposon Insertion Reveals pRM, a Plasmid ofRickettsia monacensis

Baldridge

Burkhardt

Felsheim

et al. 2007

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Until the recent discovery of pRF in Rickettsia felis, the obligate intracellular bacteria of the genus Rickettsia (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) were thought not to possess plasmids. We describe pRM, a plasmid from Rickettsia monacensis, which was detected by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and Southern blot analyses of DNA from two independent R. monacensis populations transformed by transposon-mediated insertion of coupled green fluorescent protein and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase marker genes into pRM. Two-dimensional electrophoresis showed that pRM was present in rickettsial cells as circular and linear isomers. The 23,486-nucleotide (31.8% G/C) pRM plasmid was cloned from the transformant populations by chloramphenicol marker rescue of restriction enzyme-digested transformant DNA fragments and PCR using primers derived from sequences of overlapping restriction fragments. The plasmid was sequenced. Based on BLAST searches of the GenBank database, pRM contained 23 predicted genes or pseudogenes and was remarkably similar to the larger pRF plasmid. Two of the 23 genes were unique to pRM and pRF among sequenced rickettsial genomes, and 4 of the genes shared by pRM and pRF were otherwise found only on chromosomes of R. felis or the ancestral group rickettsiae R. bellii and R. canadensis. We obtained pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and Southern blot evidence for a plasmid in R. amblyommii isolate WB-8-2 that contained genes conserved between pRM and pRF. The pRM plasmid may provide a basis for the development of a rickettsial transformation vector.

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“…However, in recent years, members of Rickettsia have been found in association with nonhematophagous arthropods, in which they induce some changes in reproduction, as does the related genus Wolbachia (54). The Rickettsia strain found here was similar to the obligate symbiont necessary for the development of oocytes and egg laying in parthenogenetic booklice (55). Its role in A. tabida is yet to be established.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Composition of Bacterial Communities Associated with Natural and Laboratory Populations of Asobara tabida Infected with Wolbachia

Zouache

Voronin

Tran-Van

et al. 2009

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Asobara tabida wasps are fly endoparasitoids that naturally harbor three Wolbachia strains, which induce cytoplasmic incompatibility and control oogenesis. To investigate whether other bacteria play a role in wasp biology, we surveyed the bacterial communities of wild A. tabida populations originating from different regions of France and of laboratory colonies using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and culture methods. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were found to be the main phyla represented in these populations. Among these were several cultured and uncultured representatives of the genera Acetobacter, Acidomonas, Bacillus, Brevibacillus, Duganella, Herbaspirillum, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus. In addition to Wolbachia, wild individuals harbored Rickettsia, which tended to be lost when insects were reared in the laboratory. The antibiotic treatment used to generate wasp sublines singly infected with Wolbachia also affected the overall bacterial composition, with most fingerprint sequences being characteristic of the family Enterobacteriaceae. We also screened for potentially heritable endosymbionts by PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization in stable laboratory lines, with only Wolbachia being consistently found in wasp ovaries.

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Rickettsia as obligate and mycetomic

Cited by 103 publications

References 68 publications

Horizontal transmission of the insect symbiont Rickettsia is plant-mediated

Horizontal transmission of the insect symbiont Rickettsia is plant-mediated

Transposon Insertion Reveals pRM, a Plasmid ofRickettsia monacensis

Composition of Bacterial Communities Associated with Natural and Laboratory Populations of Asobara tabida Infected with Wolbachia

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