Animals are thriving with microbial life, often establishing intimate symbiotic relationships with their tiny companions. When these persist over evolutionary time, they bring about deep changes to both the hosts and their symbionts. Since his early studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and subsequent PhD at the University of Valencia (Spain), Alejandro has been exploring the impact of symbiotic interactions on the biology and evolution of hosts and symbionts at the genomic, metabolic, and morphological levels. His research deals with animal-microbe symbioses, with a focus on two animal systems with nutrient-restricted diets: aphids and blood-feeding leeches. He approaches the study of these organisms using genomic, microscopic, and evolutionary methods.
Development of an artificial symbiont’s birth (SymBirth)
Strict blood-feeding leeches (you heard that right, there are several that do not feed on blood!) are confronted with a strong B-vitamin deficiency…
Manzano-Marín A, Kvist S, Oceguera-Figueroa A. Evolution of an Alternative Genetic Code in the Providencia Symbiont of the Hematophagous Leech Haementeria acuecueyetzin. Genome Biology and Evolution. 2023 Sept 10;15(9):evad164. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad164
Manzano-Marín A, d’acier AC, Clamens AL, Cruaud C, Barbe V, Jousselin E. Co-obligate symbioses have repeatedly evolved across aphids, but partner identity and nutritional contributions vary across lineages. Peer Community Journal. 2023 May 17;3:e46. doi: 10.1101/2022.08.28.505559, 10.24072/pcjournal.278
Halter T, Köstlbacher S, Rattei T, Hendrickx F, Manzano-Marín A, Horn M. One to host them all: genomics of the diverse bacterial endosymbionts of the spider Oedothorax gibbosus. Microbial genomics. 2023 Feb 9;9(2):000943. doi: 10.1101/2022.05.31.494226, 10.1099/mgen.0.000943
Halter T, Hendrickx F, Horn M, Manzano-Marin A. A novel widespread MITE element in the repeat-rich genome of the Cardinium endosymbiont of the spider Oedothorax gibbosus. Microbiology Spectrum. 2022 Dec 1;10(6):e02627-22. Epub 2022 Oct 27. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02627-22
Smith G, Manzano Marín A, Reyes-Prieto M, Ribeiro Antunes CS, Ashworth V, Goselle ON et al. Human follicular mites: Ectoparasites becoming symbionts. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 2022 Jun 21;39(6):msac125. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msac125
