title: Extensive genomic diversity of closely related Wolbachia strains.
abstract: Using microarray-based comparative genome hybridization (mCGH), the genomic content of Wolbachia pipientis wMel from Drosophila melanogaster was compared to the closely related Wolbachia from D. innubila (wInn), D. santomea (wSan), and three strains from D. simulans (wAu, wRi, wSim). A large number of auxiliary genes are identified in these five strains, with most absent/divergent genes being unique to a given strain. Each strain caused an average of approximately 60 genes to be removed from the core genome. As such, these organisms do not appear to have the streamlined genomes expected of obligate intracellular bacteria. Prophage, hypothetical and ankyrin repeat genes are over-represented in the absent/divergent genes, with 21-87% of absent/divergent genes coming from prophage regions. The only wMel region absent/divergent in all five query strains is that containing WD_0509 to WD_0511, including a DNA mismatch repair protein MutL-2, a degenerate RNase, and a conserved hypothetical protein. A region flanked by the two portions of the WO-B prophage in wMel is found in four of the five Wolbachia strains as well as on a plasmid of a rickettsial endosymbiont of Ixodes scapularis, suggesting lateral gene transfer between these two obligate intracellular species. Overall, these insect-associated Wolbachia have highly mosaic genomes, with lateral gene transfer playing an important role in their diversity and evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.|J. Craig Venter Institute, 9708 Medical Center Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Nadeeza
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishmael
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.|J. Craig Venter Institute, 9708 Medical Center Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Julie C Dunning
authors.initials: JCD
authors.lastname: Hotopp
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, 30100 Agrinio, Greece.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ioannidis
authors.affiliation: Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biber
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, 30100 Agrinio, Greece.
authors.forename: Stefanos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siozios
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.|J. Craig Venter Institute, 9708 Medical Center Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Vishvanath
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nene
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Werren
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, 30100 Agrinio, Greece.
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bourtzis
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.|Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Seth R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bordenstein
authors.affiliation: Institute for Genome Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.|J. Craig Venter Institute, 9708 Medical Center Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tettelin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017487:Ankyrins / Q000235:genetics; D055028:Comparative Genomic Hybridization; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000382:microbiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D013045:Species Specificity; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017487:Ankyrins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial