Bacteriophages Encode Factors Required for Protection in a Symbiotic Mutualism Export

@article{citeulike:5495583, abstract = {Bacteriophages are known to carry key virulence factors for pathogenic bacteria, but their roles in symbiotic bacteria are less well understood. The heritable symbiont Hamiltonella defensa protects the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum from attack by the parasitoid Aphidius ervi by killing developing wasp larvae. In a controlled genetic background, we show that a toxin-encoding bacteriophage is required to produce the protective phenotype. Phage loss occurs repeatedly in laboratory-held H. defensa-infected aphid clonal lines, resulting in increased susceptibility to parasitism in each instance. Our results show that these mobile genetic elements can endow a bacterial symbiont with benefits that extend to the animal host. Thus, phages vector ecologically important traits, such as defense against parasitoids, within and among symbiont and animal host lineages. 10.1126/science.1174463}, author = {Oliver, Kerry M. and Degnan, Patrick H. and Hunter, Martha S. and Moran, Nancy A.}, citeulike-article-id = {5495583}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1174463}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5943/992}, day = {21}, doi = {10.1126/science.1174463}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {infectious, journalclub, threestar}, month = {August}, number = {5943}, pages = {992--994}, posted-at = {2009-08-21 01:14:50}, priority = {2}, title = {Bacteriophages Encode Factors Required for Protection in a Symbiotic Mutualism}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1174463}, volume = {325}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5495583 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5495583 N2 - Bacteriophages are known to carry key virulence factors for pathogenic bacteria, but their roles in symbiotic bacteria are less well understood. The heritable symbiont Hamiltonella defensa protects the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum from attack by the parasitoid Aphidius ervi by killing developing wasp larvae. In a controlled genetic background, we show that a toxin-encoding bacteriophage is required to produce the protective phenotype. Phage loss occurs repeatedly in laboratory-held H. defensa-infected aphid clonal lines, resulting in increased susceptibility to parasitism in each instance. Our results show that these mobile genetic elements can endow a bacterial symbiont with benefits that extend to the animal host. Thus, phages vector ecologically important traits, such as defense against parasitoids, within and among symbiont and animal host lineages. 10.1126/science.1174463 IS - 5943 JF - Science EP - 994 TI - Bacteriophages Encode Factors Required for Protection in a Symbiotic Mutualism VL - 325 SP - 992 KW - infectious KW - journalclub KW - threestar AU - Oliver, Kerry AU - Degnan, Patrick AU - Hunter, Martha AU - Moran, Nancy PY - 2009/08/21/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1174463 ER -