Genome degeneration affects both extracellular and intracellular bacterial endosymbionts.
The obligate intracellular bacterial endosymbionts of insects are a paradigm for reductive genome evolution. A study published recently in BMC Biology demonstrates that similar evolutionary forces shaping genome structure may also apply to extracellular endosymbionts.
Feldhaar
Heike
H
Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie, Barbarastrasse 11, Universität Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.
Gross
Roy
R
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000635:transmission; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D013559:Symbiosis