A novel widespread MITE element in the repeat-rich genome of the Cardinium endosymbiont of the spider Oedothorax gibbosus
- Author(s)
- Tamara Halter, Frederik Hendrickx, Matthias Horn, Alejandro Manzano-Marin
- Abstract
Free-living bacteria have evolved multiple times to become host-restricted endosymbionts. The transition from a free-living to a host-restricted lifestyle comes with a number of different genomic changes, including a massive loss of genes. In host-restricted endosymbionts, gene inactivation and genome reduction are facilitated by mobile genetic elements, mainly insertion sequences (ISs). ISs are small autonomous mobile elements, and one of, if not the most, abundant transposable elements in bacteria. Proliferation of ISs is common in some facultative endosymbionts, and is likely driven by the transmission bottlenecks, which increase the level of genetic drift. In this study, we present a manually curated genome annotation for a Cardinium endosymbiont of the dwarf spider Oedothorax gibbosus. Cardinium species are host-restricted endosymbionts that, similarly to ColbachiaWolbachia spp., include strains capable of manipulating host reproduction. Through the focus on mobile elements, the annotation revealed a rampant spread of ISs, extending earlier observations in other Cardinium genomes. We found that a large proportion of IS elements are pseudogenized, with many displaying evidence of recent inactivation. Most notably, we describe the lineage-specific emergence and spread of a novel IS-derived Miniature Inverted repeat Transposable Element (MITE), likely being actively maintained by intact copies of its parental IS982-family element. This study highlights the relevance of manual curation of these repeat-rich endosymbiont genomes for the discovery of novel MITEs, as well as the possible role these understudied elements might play in genome streamlining.
- Organisation(s)
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
- External organisation(s)
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
- Journal
- Microbiology Spectrum
- Volume
- 10
- No. of pages
- 6
- ISSN
- 2165-0497
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02627-22
- Publication date
- 10-2022
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106005 Bioinformatics, 106026 Ecosystem research, 106059 Microbiome research, 106014 Genomics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical), Infectious Diseases, Genetics, Immunology and Microbiology(all), Physiology, Cell Biology, Ecology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a-novel-widespread-mite-element-in-the-repeatrich-genome-of-the-cardinium-endosymbiont-of-the-spider-oedothorax-gibbosus(5a810de6-a4c3-4d84-a52b-48f6dcb5acb2).html