title: Horizontal Gene Transfer from Bacteria Has Enabled the Plant-Parasitic Nematode Globodera pallida to Feed on Host-Derived Sucrose.
abstract: The evolution of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) is unusual in that these organisms have acquired a range of genes from bacteria via horizontal gene transfer (HGT). The proteins encoded by most of these genes are involved in metabolism of various components of the plant cell wall during invasion of the host. Recent genome sequencing projects for PPN have shown that Glycosyl Hydrolase Family 32 (GH32) sequences are present in several PPN species. These sequences are absent from almost all other animals. Here, we show that the GH32 sequences from an economically important cyst nematode species, Globodera pallida are functional invertases, are expressed during feeding and are restricted in expression to the nematode digestive system. These data are consistent with a role in metabolizing host-derived sucrose. In addition, a detailed phylogenetic analysis shows that the GH32 sequences from PPN and those present in some insect species have distinct bacterial origins and do not therefore derive from a gene present in the last common ancestor of ecdysozoan species. HGT has therefore played at least two critical roles in the evolution of PPN, enabling both invasion of the host and feeding on the main translocation carbohydrate of the plant.
authors.affiliation: Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, INRA, Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, 06903, Sophia Antipolis, France.
authors.forename: Etienne G J
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Danchin
authors.affiliation: Dundee Effector Consortium, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, United Kingdom Centre of Parasitology of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Elena A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Guzeeva
authors.affiliation: Dundee Effector Consortium, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mantelin
authors.affiliation: Dundee Effector Consortium, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adokiye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berepiki
authors.affiliation: Dundee Effector Consortium, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, United Kingdom Biology Department, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom john.jones@hutton.ac.uk jj33@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015870:Gene Expression; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D018745:Genome, Plant; D009348:Nematoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism*; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D013395:Sucrose; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase
keywords: adaptive evolution; horizontal gene transfer; invertase; plant-parasitic nematode.