Members of the Steinernema genus of nematodes are colonized mutualistically by members of the Xenorhabdus genus of bacteria. In nature, Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes are always found in association with Xenorhabdus nematophila bacteria. Thus, this interaction, like many microbe-host associations, appears to be species specific. X. nematophila requires the nilA, nilB, and nilC genes to colon...

Three Xenorhabdus nematophilus subspecies influenced Steinernema glaseri growth profiles and growth rates, but this was not necessarily because of different bacterial growth rates. Virulence of dauer nematodes in larval Galleria mellonella varied with the number of dauers retaining bacteria and the bacterial subspecies. Virulence was least for dauers grown on X. nematophilus subsp. bovienii bec...

The symbiotic pathogenic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila produces two distinct intracellular inclusion bodies. The pixA gene, which encodes the 185-residue methionine-rich PixA inclusion body protein, was analyzed in the present study. The pixA gene was optimally expressed under stationary-phase conditions but its expression did not require RpoS. Analysis of a pixA mutant strain showed that P...

Xenorhabdus nematophila, an entomopathogenic bacterium that symbiotically associates with the entomoparasitic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae, was studied to determine its physiological parameters of glucose utilization. X. nematophila was cultured in chemically defined media containing various concentrations of glucose under optimal conditions utilizing a two-liter fermentation system. Specif...

T he gram-negative bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila engages in a mutualistic relationship with a specific soil nematode and also can mount potent pathogenic attacks on a variety of insects. During its mutualisticpathogenic life cycle, Xenorhabdus produces a wide range of exoenzymes, antimicrobial and nematicidal compounds, and insect toxins. Moreover, the nematode-bacteria complex is useful fo...

An insertion between iscA and hscB of the Xenorhabdus nematophila iscRSUA-hscBA-fdx locus, predicted to encode Fe-S assembly machinery, prevented colonization of Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes. The insertion disrupted cotranscription of iscA and hscB, but did not reduce hscBA expression, suggesting that X. nematophila requires coordinated expression of the isc-hsc-fdx locus for colonization.

Species of Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus bacteria form mutualistic associations with Steinernema and Heterorhabditis nematodes, respectively and serve as model systems for studying microbe-animal symbioses. Here, we profiled gene expression of Xenorhabdus koppenhoeferi during their symbiotic persistence in the newly formed infective juveniles of the host nematode Steinernema scarabaei through th...

Xenorhabdus nematophila strain C2-3, which belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae, was isolated from entomopathogenic nematodes collected in the Republic of Korea. Herein, we report a 4.38-Mbp draft genome sequence of X. nematophila strain C2-3, with a 43.6% G+C content. The RAST annotation analysis revealed 4,994 protein-coding sequences in the draft genome.

The entomopathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila, induces immunodepression in target insects and finally leads to lethal septicemia of the infected hosts. A hypothesis has been raised that the bacteria inhibit eicosanoid-biosynthesis pathway to interrupt immune signaling of the infected hosts. Here, we show direct evidence that X. nematophila inhibits the activity of phospholipase A2 (PL...

The bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila is an insect pathogen and an obligate symbiont of the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. X. nematophila makes a biofilm that adheres to the head of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a capability X. nematophila shares with the biofilms made by Yersinia pestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. As in Yersinia spp., the X. nematophila biofilm requires a ...