Hemipteran insects are well-known in their ability to establish symbiotic relationships with bacteria. Among them, heteropteran insects present an array of symbiotic systems, ranging from the most common gut crypt symbiosis to the more restricted bacteriome-associated endosymbiosis, which have only been detected in members of the superfamily Lygaeoidea and the family Cimicidae so far. Genomic d...

The first mycetome was discovered more than 340 yr ago in the human louse. Despite the remarkable biology and medical and social importance of human lice, its primary endosymbiont has eluded identification and characterization. Here, we report the host-symbiont interaction of the mycetomic bacterium of the head louse Pediculus humanus capitis and the body louse P. h. humanus. The endosymbiont r...

Many insects maintain intracellular mutualistic symbiosis with a wide range of bacteria which are considered essential for their survival (primary or P-endosymbiont) and typically suffer drastic genome degradation. Progressive loss of P-endosymbiont metabolic capabilities could lead to the recruitment of co-existent facultative endosymbiont (secondary or S-endosymbiont), thus adding more comple...

Particularly interesting cases of mutualistic endosymbioses come from the establishment of co-obligate associations of more than one species of endosymbiotic bacteria. Throughout symbiotic accommodation from a free-living bacterium, passing through a facultative stage and ending as an obligate intracellular one, the symbiont experiences massive genomic losses and phenotypic adjustments. Here, w...

The endosymbiosis between dinoflagellate algae of the genus Symbiodinium and stony corals provides the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the expulsion of endosymbionts from the coral host tissue as a consequence of heat or light stress, poses a threat to reef ecosystem functioning on a global scale. Hence, a better understanding of the factors contributing to heat stress sus...

To correlate a prokaryotic endosymbiont in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon kondoi, with the endosymbionts in related aphid species as well as with free-living bacteria and subcellular organelles, and to study the mode of its gene expression within aphid cells, we have cloned and characterized the genes encoding ribosomal proteins S3, L16, L29, S17, L14, L24, L5, S14, S8, L6, L18, S5, L30, L15 and ...

Tick cell lines were used to model the effects of endosymbiont infection on phagocytic immune responses. The lines tested for their ability to phagocytose the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochaetales: Spirochaetaceae), were ISE6 and IDE12 from the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) and DAE15 from the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni St...

Whole-genome sequencing has emerged as one of the most effective means to elucidate the biological roles and molecular features of obligate intracellular symbionts (endosymbionts). However, the de novo assembly of an endosymbiont genome remains a challenge when host and/or mitochondrial DNA sequences are present in a dataset and hinder the assembly of the genome. By focusing on the traits of ge...

Abstract Background Most plant viruses rely on vectors for their transmission and spread. One of the outstanding biological questions concerning vector-pathogen-symbiont multi-trophic interactions is potential involvement vector symbionts in virus process. Here, we used a multi-factorial system containing non-persistent virus, cucumber mosaic (CMV), its primary vector, green peach aphid, Myzus ...