title: Acetic acid bacteria genomes reveal functional traits for adaptation to life in insect guts.
abstract: Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) live in sugar rich environments, including food matrices, plant tissues, and the gut of sugar-feeding insects. By comparing the newly sequenced genomes of Asaia platycodi and Saccharibacter sp., symbionts of Anopheles stephensi and Apis mellifera, respectively, with those of 14 other AAB, we provide a genomic view of the evolutionary pattern of this bacterial group and clues on traits that explain the success of AAB as insect symbionts. A specific pre-adaptive trait, cytochrome bo3 ubiquinol oxidase, appears ancestral in AAB and shows a phylogeny that is congruent with that of the genomes. The functional properties of this terminal oxidase might have allowed AAB to adapt to the diverse oxygen levels of arthropod guts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food, Environmental, and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Bessem
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chouaia
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaiarsa
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crotti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Comandatore
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Degli Esposti
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alma
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Favia
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bandi
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daffonchio
mesh_terms: D016947:Acetobacteraceae / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000382:microbiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology
keywords: acetic acid bacteria; cytochrome oxidase; symbiosis