A family of glycosyl hydrolase family 45 cellulases from the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.
We have characterized a family of GHF45 cellulases from the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. The absence of such genes from other nematodes and their similarity to fungal genes suggests that they may have been acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from fungi. The cell wall degrading enzymes of other plant parasitic nematodes may have been acquired by HGT from bacteria. B. xylophilus is not directly related to other plant parasites and our data therefore suggest that horizontal transfer of cell wall degrading enzymes has played a key role in evolution of plant parasitism by nematodes on more than one occasion.
Kikuchi
Taisei
T
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan. kikuchit@affrc.go.jp
Jones
John T
JT
Aikawa
Takuya
T
Kosaka
Hajime
H
Ogura
Nobuo
N
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020171:Botrytis; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology; D002480:Cellulase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009348:Nematoda / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D010944:Plants / Q000469:parasitology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014934:Wood
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; D002480:Cellulase