Intracellular bacterial symbionts of aphids possess many genomic copies per bacterium.
Although Buchnera, the endosymbiotic bacteria of aphids, are close relatives of Escherichia coli, their genome size is only a seventh that of E. coli. In this study, we estimated the genomic copy number of Buchnera by dot-blot hybridization and fluorimetry using a video-intensified microscope photon-counting system and obtained convincing evidence that each cell of these bacteria contains an average of 120 genomic copies. Thus, the Buchnera symbiont, with many copies of a small-sized genome, is reminiscent of cell organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts.
Komaki
K
K
Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Ishikawa
H
H
D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018833:Chaperonins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D018628:Gene Dosage; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D013559:Symbiosis
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C028715:GroE protein, E coli; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D018833:Chaperonins