Projects per year
Abstract / Description of output
Wolbachia are common endosymbionts of terrestrial arthropods, and are also found in nematodes: the animal-parasitic filaria, and the plant-parasite Radopholus similis. Lateral transfer of Wolbachia DNA to the host genome is common. We generated a draft genome sequence for the strongyloidean nematode parasite Dictyocaulus viviparus, the cattle lungworm. In the assembly, we identified nearly 1 Mb of sequence with similarity to Wolbachia. The fragments were unlikely to derive from a live Wolbachia infection: most were short, and the genes were disabled through inactivating mutations. Many fragments were co-assembled with definitively nematode-derived sequence. We found limited evidence of expression of the Wolbachia-derived genes. The D. viviparus Wolbachia genes were most similar to filarial strains and strains from the host-promiscuous clade F. We conclude that D. viviparus was infected by Wolbachia in the past, and that clade F-like symbionts may have been the source of filarial Wolbachia infections.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | e1004397 |
Journal | PLoS Genetics |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 5 Jun 2014 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Palaeosymbiosis Revealed by Genomic Fossils of Wolbachia in a Strongyloidean Nematode'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
The evolutionary genomics of sexual recombination
Blaxter, M. & Lunt, D.
1/09/12 → 29/02/16
Project: Research