''Candidatus'' Arsenophonus arthropodicus is a

Gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelope consists ...

and intracellular secondary (S)

endosymbiont An endosymbiont or endobiont is an organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism. Typically the two organisms are in a mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship. Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia), whi ...

that belongs to the genus ''

Arsenophonus ''Arsenophonus'' is a genus of Morganellaceae, of the Gammaproteobacteria. Members of the ''Arsenophonus'' genus are increasingly discovered bacterial symbionts of arthropods that are estimated to infect over 5% of arthropod species globally an ...

''. This bacterium is found in the Hippoboscid louse fly, ''

Pseudolynchia canariensis ''Pseudolynchia canariensis'', the pigeon louse fly or pigeon fly, is a species of biting fly in the family of louse flies, Hippoboscidae. Distribution ''Pseudolynchia canariensis'' are species-specific (Columbidae) obligate ectoparasites potent ...

''. S-endosymbionts are commonly found in distinct tissues. Strains of recovered ''Arsenophonus'' found in

arthropods Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

share 99% sequence identification in the 16S rRNA gene across all species. ''Arsenophonus''-host interactions involve parasitism and mutualism, including a popular mechanism of "male-killing" found commonly in a related species, ''Arsenophonus nasoniae''. This species is considered "''Ca.'' A. arthropodicus" due it being as of yet uncultured.

Isolation and genome identification

Isolation

Amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences of ''Phoenix canariensis'' pupal DNA showed ''Arsenophonus'' detection in hemocytes, gut, fat body, and reproductive tissues indicating distribution of bacterium throughout hosts tissues. Lab cultured bacteria found in these tissues show extracellular and intracellular attachment indicating ''Ca.'' A. arthropodicus can initiate intracellular infection in the host cells ''in vitro''. A primary culture of ''P. canariensis'' pupae was used to enrich ''Ca.'' A. arthropodicus through Gram-positive inhibitor

vancomycin Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic medication used to treat certain bacterial infections. It is administered intravenously ( injection into a vein) to treat complicated skin infections, bloodstream infections, endocarditis, bone an ...

and Gram-negative sensitive antibacterial cationic peptides. Ancestral species identification also provides insight into ''Arsenophonus'' being a monophyletic clade.

Genome identification

Contents of the ''Ca.'' A. arthropodicus genome are a single chromosome and multiple extrachromosomal elements. Through the use of restriction enzymes Notl and Ascl the approximate chromosome size is 3.51 Mbp. Two species were identified from enrichments based on the behavior of extrachromosomal DNA under alkaline lysis, restriction enzymes, and agarose gel electrophoresis .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q99774758 Enterobacterales Candidatus taxa