title: Isolation, pure culture, and characterization of "Candidatus Arsenophonus arthropodicus," an intracellular secondary endosymbiont from the hippoboscid louse fly Pseudolynchia canariensis.
abstract: Members of the genus Arsenophonus comprise a large group of bacterial endosymbionts that are widely distributed in arthropods of medical, veterinary, and agricultural importance. At present, little is known about the role of these bacteria in arthropods, because few representatives have been isolated and cultured in the laboratory. In the current study, we describe the isolation and pure culture of an Arsenophonus endosymbiont from the hippoboscid louse fly Pseudolynchia canariensis. We propose provisional nomenclature for this bacterium in the genus Arsenophonus as "Candidatus Arsenophonus arthropodicus." Phylogenetic analyses indicate that "Candidatus Arsenophonus arthropodicus" is closely related to the Arsenophonus endosymbionts found in psyllids, whiteflies, aphids, and mealybugs. The pure culture of this endosymbiont offers new opportunities to examine the role of Arsenophonus in insects. To this end, we describe methods for the culture of "Candidatus Arsenophonus arthropodicus" in an insect cell line and the transformation of this bacterium with a broad-host-range plasmid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, 201 Life Sciences, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84106, USA. dale@biology.utah.edu
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beeton
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harbison
authors.forename: Tait
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pontes
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003470:Culture Media; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis; D004175:Diptera / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011679:Pupa / Q000382:microbiology; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S