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BioMed Central

Aphids borrowed bacterial genes to play host

Published in Gene Therapy Weekly, March 26th, 2009

Most aphids host mutualistic bacteria, Buchnera aphidicola, which live inside specialized cells called bacteriocytes. Buchnera are vital to the aphids well being as they provide essential amino acids that are scarce in its diet. Now research published in the open access journal BMC Biology suggests that the aphids' ability to host Buchnera depends on genes they acquired from yet another species of bacteria via lateral gene transfer (LGT).

Atsushi Nakabachi from Japan's RIKEN institute with his colleagues had previously uncovered two clusters of mRNA sequences from the bacteriocyte of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum that were encoded in the aphid genome, but similar to...

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