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. No evidence for Wolbachia as a nutritional co-obligate endosymbiont in the aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa. Microbiome. 2020 May 22;8(1):72. doi: 10.1186/s40168-020-00865-2, 10.1101/609511
Manzano Marín A, d’acier AC, Clamens AL, Orvain C, Cruaud C, Barbe V et al. Serial horizontal transfer of vitamin-biosynthetic genes enables the establishment of new nutritional symbionts in aphids’ di-symbiotic systems. The ISME Journal: multidisciplinary journal of microbial ecology. 2020 Jan;14(1):259-273. Epub 2019 Oct 17. doi: 10.1038/s41396-019-0533-6
Sosa-Jiménez VM, Torres-Carrera G, Manzano-Marín A, Kvist S, Oceguera-Figueroa A. Mitogenome of the blood feeding leech Haementeria acuecueyetzin (Hirudinida: Glossiphoniidae) from Tabasco, Mexico. Mitochondrial DNA Part B. 2020;5(3):3310-3312. Epub 2020 Sept 8. doi: 10.1080/23802359.2020.1814888
Patel V, Chevignon G, Manzano-Marín A, Brandt JW, Strand MR, Russell JA et al. Cultivation-Assisted Genome of Candidatus Fukatsuia symbiotica; the Enigmatic "X-Type" Symbiont of Aphids. Genome Biology and Evolution. 2019 Dec 1;11(12):3510-3522. Epub 2019 Nov 14. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz252
Manzano-Marín A, Coeur d'acier A, Clamens AL, Orvain C, Cruaud C, Barbe V et al. A Freeloader?: The Highly Eroded Yet Large Genome of the Serratia symbiotica Symbiont of Cinara strobi. Genome Biology and Evolution. 2018 Sept 1;10(9):2178-2189. Epub 2018 Aug 9. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evy173, 10.1101/305458
