0000000000423986

AUTHOR

Roeland C. H. J. Van Ham

showing 6 related works from this author

The genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus: Comparative analysis of reduced genomes

2003

Bacterial symbioses are widespread among insects, probably being one of the key factors of their evolutionary success. We present the complete genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus , the primary endosymbiont of carpenter ants. Although these ants feed on a complex diet, this symbiosis very likely has a nutritional basis: Blochmannia is able to supply nitrogen and sulfur compounds to the host while it takes advantage of the host metabolic machinery. Remarkably, these bacteria lack all known genes involved in replication initiation ( dna A, pri A, and rec A). The phylogenetic analysis of a set of conserved protein-coding genes shows that Bl. floridanus is phylogenetically related to Buch…

replicationInsectafood.ingredientMolecular Sequence DataBlochmanniaselectionWigglesworthia glossinidiaModels BiologicalGenomeescherichia-coli k-12Open Reading FramesfoodPhylogeneticsevolutionAnimalsGenebuchneraPhylogenyGeneticsMultidisciplinaryPhylogenetic treebiologyphylogenetic analysisSequence Analysis DNABiological Sciencesbiology.organism_classificationDnaAproteinsgene-clusterPRI Bioscienceaphidsendosymbiotic bacteriaBuchneraGammaproteobacteriaGenome Bacterial
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Genomic determinants of protein folding thermodynamics in prokaryotic organisms.

2004

Here we investigate how thermodynamic properties of orthologous proteins are influenced by the genomic environment in which they evolve. We performed a comparative computational study of 21 protein families in 73 prokaryotic species and obtained the following main results. (i) Protein stability with respect to the unfolded state and with respect to misfolding are anticorrelated. There appears to be a trade-off between these two properties, which cannot be optimized simultaneously. (ii) Folding thermodynamic parameters are strongly correlated with two genomic features, genome size and G+C composition. In particular, the normalized energy gap, an indicator of folding efficiency in statistical…

Models MolecularProtein DenaturationProtein FoldingProtein familyArchaeal ProteinsThermodynamicsdeleterious mutationsthermophilic proteinsBiologymonte-carlo algorithmGenomeNegative selectionBacterial ProteinsStructural BiologyMolecular evolutionGenome ArchaealevolutionbuchneraMolecular BiologyGenome sizeGeneticsPrincipal Component Analysisacid side-chainsBacteriaSequence Homology Amino Acidreplica approachComputational BiologystabilityGenetic codeArchaeaPRI BioscienceFolding (chemistry)endosymbiotic bacteriacation-pi interactionsThermodynamicsProtein foldingHydrophobic and Hydrophilic InteractionsGenome BacterialJournal of molecular biology
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Molecular characterization of the leucine cluster in Buchnera PSY, primary endosymbiont of the aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae

2002

ABSTRACT Buchnera strains from most aphid subfamilies studied to date have been found to carry the leucine gene cluster ( leuA , - B , - C , and - D ) on a plasmid, an organization unique among bacteria. Here, however, we demonstrate a classical chromosomal location of the cluster in Buchnera sp. strain PSY from the aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae (subfamily Pemphiginae). The genes that flank leuABCD in Buchnera sp. strain PSY appear to be adjacent in the genome of Buchnera sp. strain APS, a strain carrying a leucine plasmid. We propose that the presence of a leucine plasmid predates the diversification of symbiotic Buchnera and that the chromosomal location observed in Buchnera sp. strain PSY …

DNA BacterialSubfamilyMolecular Sequence DataPemphigus spyrothecaeApplied Microbiology and Biotechnologysymbiotic bacteriaPlasmidBacterial ProteinsBuchneraLeucineplasmidGene clusterevolutionInvertebrate MicrobiologyAnimalsgeneticsCloning MolecularSymbiosisGeneHydro-LyasesGeneticsBase SequenceEcologybiologyStrain (chemistry)Gene Amplificationbiochemical phenomena metabolism and nutritionbiology.organism_classificationPRI BioscienceMultigene FamilyLeucinebiosynthesisBuchneraPemphigusFood ScienceBiotechnologyanthranilate synthase trpegApplied and Environmental Microbiology
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Evolution of the leucine gene cluster in Buchnera aphidicola: insights from chromosomal versions of the cluster.

2004

ABSTRACT In Buchnera aphidicola strains associated with the aphid subfamilies Thelaxinae, Lachninae, Pterocommatinae, and Aphidinae, the four leucine genes ( leuA , - B , - C , and - D ) are located on a plasmid. However, these genes are located on the main chromosome in B. aphidicola strains associated with the subfamilies Pemphiginae and Chaitophorinae. The sequence of the chromosomal fragment containing the leucine cluster and flanking genes has different positions in the chromosome in B. aphidicola strains associated with three tribes of the subfamily Pemphiginae and one tribe of the subfamily Chaitophorinae. Due to the extreme gene order conservation of the B. aphidicola genomes, the v…

ChaitophorinaeSubfamilygenome sequenceGenetics and Molecular BiologyMicrobiologyGenomemolecular characterizationsymbiotic bacteriaPlasmidschizaphis-graminumBuchneraLeucinemitochondrial-dnaplasmidGene clusterMolecular BiologyGeneHeat-Shock ProteinsPhylogenyGeneticsRecombination GeneticBinding SitesbiologyEscherichia coli ProteinsChromosomeChromosomes Bacterialbiology.organism_classificationPRI Bioscienceaphidsendosymbiotic bacteriaMultigene Familyescherichia-coliBuchneraanthranilate synthase trpegPlasmidsJournal of bacteriology
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Plasmid-encoded anthranilate synthase (TrpEG) in Buchnera aphidicola from aphids of the family pemphigidae

1999

Aphids are dependent on an intracellular symbiont (Buchnera aphidicola, Proteobacteria) for normal growth and reproduction (7, 19, 45). The bacteria reside in specialized cells in the aphid hemocele and are transmitted maternally through infection of eggs or embryos (11, 26). Phylogenetic studies have revealed two major characteristics of the evolutionary history of the association (37, 39); (i) the symbiosis had a single origin, dated about 150 million to 250 million years ago; and (ii) host and symbiont lineages have since diverged strictly in parallel. The association, like other symbioses in insects feeding on restricted and unbalanced diets, is thought to have a nutritional basis (5–7,…

Molecular Sequence DataPemphigus spyrothecaePolymerase Chain ReactionApplied Microbiology and BiotechnologyEvolution MolecularPlasmidPhylogeneticsInvertebrate MicrobiologyAnimalsAmino Acid SequenceRepliconCloning MolecularSymbiosisPhylogenyAnthranilate SynthaseDNA PrimersGeneticsAphidBacteriaBase SequenceSequence Homology Amino AcidEcologybiologyfood and beveragesAphididaebiochemical phenomena metabolism and nutritionPhysical Chromosome Mappingbiology.organism_classificationBiochemistryAphidsbiology.proteinAnthranilate synthaseBuchneraPlasmidsFood ScienceBiotechnology
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Structure and evolution of the leucine plasmids carried by the endosymbiont (Buchnera aphidicola) from aphids of the family Aphididae.

1998

In all examined species of the family Aphididae, the bacterial endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola carries a plasmid encoding the genes leuABCD (involved in leucine biosynthesis) along with repA1, repA2 and ORF1. The gene organisation of the leucine plasmids was conserved, except in Buchnera isolated from Pterocomma populeum, where ORF1 was located in a different position. An inverted repeat (LIR1) located between repA2 and leuA is found in all of the Buchnera leucine plasmids examined. The predicted secondary structure of the LIR1 transcript conforms to a long hairpin loop, suggesting an involvement in transcription termination or messenger stability. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on repA…

Inverted repeatMolecular Sequence DataSequence alignmentBiologyMicrobiologyOpen Reading FramesPlasmidEnterobacteriaceaeLeucineGeneticsAnimalsAmino Acid SequenceRNA MessengerSymbiosisMolecular BiologyGenePhylogenyRepetitive Sequences Nucleic AcidGeneticsBase SequenceChromosome MappingGene Expression Regulation Bacterialbiochemical phenomena metabolism and nutritionbiology.organism_classificationOpen reading frameRNA BacterialGenes BacterialAphidsHorizontal gene transferNucleic Acid ConformationLeucineBuchneraSequence AlignmentPlasmidsFEMS microbiology letters
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