TY - JOUR
T1 - Phage WO of Wolbachia
T2 - Lambda of the endosymbiont world
AU - Kent, Bethany N.
AU - Bordenstein, Seth R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Robert Brucker and Meghan Chafee for helpful feedback on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants NSF IOS-0852344 and NIH R01 GM085163-01 to S.R.B. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the NSF or NIH.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - The discovery of an extraordinarily high level of mobile elements in the genome of Wolbachia, a widespread arthropod and nematode endosymbiont, suggests that this bacterium could be an excellent model for assessing the evolution and function of mobile DNA in specialized bacteria. In this paper, we discuss how studies on the temperate bacteriophage WO of Wolbachia have revealed unexpected levels of genomic flux and are challenging previously held views about the clonality of obligate intracellular bacteria. We also discuss the roles this phage might play in the Wolbachia-arthropod symbiosis and infer how this research can be translated to combating human diseases vectored by arthropods. We expect that this temperate phage will be a preeminent model system to understand phage genetics, evolution and ecology in obligate intracellular bacteria. In this sense, phage WO might be likened to phage λ of the endosymbiont world.
AB - The discovery of an extraordinarily high level of mobile elements in the genome of Wolbachia, a widespread arthropod and nematode endosymbiont, suggests that this bacterium could be an excellent model for assessing the evolution and function of mobile DNA in specialized bacteria. In this paper, we discuss how studies on the temperate bacteriophage WO of Wolbachia have revealed unexpected levels of genomic flux and are challenging previously held views about the clonality of obligate intracellular bacteria. We also discuss the roles this phage might play in the Wolbachia-arthropod symbiosis and infer how this research can be translated to combating human diseases vectored by arthropods. We expect that this temperate phage will be a preeminent model system to understand phage genetics, evolution and ecology in obligate intracellular bacteria. In this sense, phage WO might be likened to phage λ of the endosymbiont world.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tim.2009.12.011
DO - 10.1016/j.tim.2009.12.011
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20083406
AN - SCOPUS:77950857181
SN - 0966-842X
VL - 18
SP - 173
EP - 181
JO - Trends in Microbiology
JF - Trends in Microbiology
IS - 4
ER -