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Genome erosion is a frequently observed result of relaxed selection in insect nutritional symbionts, but it has rarely been studied in defensive mutualisms. Solitary beewolf wasps harbor an actinobacterial symbiont of the genus Streptomyces that provides protection to the developing offspring against pathogenic microorganisms. Here, we characterized the genomic architecture and functional gene content of this culturable symbiont using genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics in combination with in vitro assays. Despite retaining a large linear chromosome (7.3 Mb), the wasp symbiont accumulated frameshift mutations in more than a third of its protein-coding genes, indicative of incipient genome erosion. Although many of the frameshifted genes were still expressed, the encoded proteins were not detected, indicating post-transcriptional regulation. Most pseudogenization events affected accessory genes, regulators, and transporters, but "Streptomyces philanthi" also experienced mutations in central metabolic pathways, resulting in auxotrophies for biotin, proline, and arginine that were confirmed experimentally in axenic culture. In contrast to the strong A+T bias in the genomes of most obligate symbionts, we observed a significant G+C enrichment in regions likely experiencing reduced selection. Differential expression analyses revealed that--compared to in vitro symbiont cultures--"S. philanthi" in beewolf antennae showed overexpression of genes for antibiotic biosynthesis, the uptake of host-provided nutrients and the metabolism of building blocks required for antibiotic production. Our results show unusual traits in the early stage of genome erosion in a defensive symbiont and suggest tight integration of host-symbiont metabolic pathways that effectively grants the host control over the antimicrobial activity of its bacterial partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbiotic associations between animals and microbes are ubiquitous in nature, with an estimated 15% of all insect species harboring intracellular bacterial symbionts. Most bacterial symbionts share many genomic features including small genomes, nucleotide composition bias, high coding density, and a paucity of mobile DNA, consistent with long-term host association. In this study, we focus on the early stages of genome degeneration in a recently derived insect-bacterial mutualistic intracellular association. We present the complete genome sequence and annotation of Sitophilus oryzae primary endosymbiont (SOPE). We also present the finished genome sequence and annotation of strain HS, a close free-living relative of SOPE and other insect symbionts of the Sodalis-allied clade, whose gene inventory is expected to closely resemble the putative ancestor of this group. Structural, functional, and evolutionary analyses indicate that SOPE has undergone extensive adaptation toward an insect-associated lifestyle in a very short time period. The genome of SOPE is large in size when compared with many ancient bacterial symbionts; however, almost half of the protein-coding genes in SOPE are pseudogenes. There is also evidence for relaxed selection on the remaining intact protein-coding genes. Comparative analyses of the whole-genome sequence of strain HS and SOPE highlight numerous genomic rearrangements, duplications, and deletions facilitated by a recent expansion of insertions sequence elements, some of which appear to have catalyzed adaptive changes. Functional metabolic predictions suggest that SOPE has lost the ability to synthesize several essential amino acids and vitamins. Analyses of the bacterial cell envelope and genes encoding secretion systems suggest that these structures and elements have become simplified in the transition to a mutualistic association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondrial genes in animals are especially useful as molecular markers for the reconstruction of phylogenies among closely related taxa, due to the generally high substitution rates. Several insect orders, notably Hymenoptera and Phthiraptera, show exceptionally high rates of mitochondrial molecular evolution, which has been attributed to the parasitic lifestyle of current or ancestral members of these taxa. Parasitism has been hypothesized to entail frequent population bottlenecks that increase rates of molecular evolution by reducing the efficiency of purifying selection. This effect should result in elevated substitution rates of both nuclear and mitochondrial genes, but to date no extensive comparative study has tested this hypothesis in insects. Here we report the mitochondrial genome of a crabronid wasp, the European beewolf (Philanthus triangulum, Hymenoptera, Crabronidae), and we use it to compare evolutionary rates among the four largest holometabolous insect orders (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera) based on phylogenies reconstructed with whole mitochondrial genomes as well as four single-copy nuclear genes (18S rRNA, arginine kinase, wingless, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase). The mt-genome of P. triangulum is 16,029 bp in size with a mean A+T content of 83.6%, and it encodes the 37 genes typically found in arthropod mt genomes (13 protein-coding, 22 tRNA, and two rRNA genes). Five translocations of tRNA genes were discovered relative to the putative ancestral genome arrangement in insects, and the unusual start codon TTG was predicted for cox2. Phylogenetic analyses revealed significantly longer branches leading to the apocritan Hymenoptera as well as the Orussoidea, to a lesser extent the Cephoidea, and, possibly, the Tenthredinoidea than any of the other holometabolous insect orders for all mitochondrial but none of the four nuclear genes tested. Thus, our results suggest that the ancestral parasitic lifestyle of Apocrita is unlikely to be the major cause for the elevated substitution rates observed in hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) evolved via cross-species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz) from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Chimpanzees, like humans, are susceptible to infection by HIV- 1. However, unlike humans, infected chimpanzees seldom develop immunodeficiency when infected with SIVcpz or HIV-1. SIVcpz and most strains of HIV-1 require the cell-surface receptor CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCRS) to infect specific leukocyte subsets, and, subsequent to infection, the level of CCRS expression influences the amount of HIV-1 entry and the rate of HIV-1 replication. Evidence that variants in the 5' cis-regulatory region of CCR5 (5'CCR5) affect disease progression in humans suggests that variation in CCR5 might also influence the response of chimpanzees to HIV-1/SIVcpz. To determine whether patterns of genetic variation at 5'CCR5 in chimpanzees are similar to those in humans, we analyzed patterns of DNA sequence variation in 37 wild-born chimpanzees (26 P. t. verus, 9 P. t. troglodytes, and 2 P. t. schweinfurthii), along with previously published 5'CCR5 data from 112 humans and 50 noncoding regions in the human and chimpanzee genomes. These analyses revealed that patterns of variation in 5'CCR5 differ dramatically between chimpanzees and humans. In chimpanzees, 5'CCR5 was less diverse than 80% of noncoding regions and was characterized by an excess of rare variants. In humans, 5'CCR5 was more diverse than 90% of noncoding regions and had an excess of common variants. Under a wide range of demographic histories, these patterns suggest that, whereas human 5'CCR5 has been subject to balancing selection, chimpanzee 5'CCR5 has been influenced by a selective sweep. This result suggests that chimpanzee 5'CCR5 might harbor or be linked to functional variants that influence chimpanzee resistance to disease caused by SIVcpz/HIV-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ciliates, microbial eukaryotes, have been important experimental organisms for >100 years, contributing to the discovery and understanding of self-splicing RNA, telomere biochemistry and transcriptional regulation by histone modification. We have completed a pilot sequencing project of the Oxytricha trifallax macronuclear (MAC) genome. When complete, this genome sequence, along with the emerging Tetrahymena thermophila and Paramecium tetraurelia sequences, will provide an important resource for basic eukaryotic cell biology, molecular evolution and the related apicomplexan parasites, such as Plasmodium spp. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]