''Buchnera aphidicola'', a member of the

Pseudomonadota Pseudomonadota (synonym "Proteobacteria") is a major phylum of gram-negative bacteria. Currently, they are considered the predominant phylum within the domain of bacteria. They are naturally found as pathogenic and free-living (non- parasitic) ...

and the only species in the genus ''Buchnera'', is the primary

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 ...

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

s, and has been studied in the pea aphid, ''

Acyrthosiphon pisum ''Acyrthosiphon pisum'', commonly known as the pea aphid (and colloquially known as the green dolphin, pea louse, and clover louse), is a sap-sucking insect in the family Aphididae. It feeds on several species of legumes (plant family Fabaceae) w ...

''. ''Buchnera'' is believed to have had a free-living,

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 ...

ancestor similar to a modern

Enterobacterales Enterobacterales is an order of Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-negative, non-spore forming, Facultative anaerobic organism, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria with the class Gammaproteobacteria. The type genus of this order is ''Enterob ...

, such as ''Escherichia coli''. ''Buchnera'' is 3 μm in diameter and has some of the key characteristics of its Enterobacterales relatives, such as a Gram-negative cell wall. However, unlike most other Gram-negative bacteria, ''Buchnera'' lacks the genes to produce lipopolysaccharides for its outer membrane. The long association with aphids and the limitation of crossover events due to strictly

vertical transmission Vertical transmission of symbionts is the transfer of a microbial symbiont from the parent directly to the offspring. Many metazoan species carry symbiotic bacteria which play a mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic role. A symbiont is acq ...

has seen the deletion of genes required for

anaerobic respiration Anaerobic respiration is respiration using electron acceptors other than molecular oxygen (O2). Although oxygen is not the final electron acceptor, the process still uses a respiratory electron transport chain. In aerobic organisms undergoing ...

, the synthesis of

amino sugar In organic chemistry, an amino sugar is a sugar molecule in which a hydroxyl group has been replaced with an amine group. More than 60 amino sugars are known, with one of the most abundant being N-Acetylglucosamine, ''N''-acetyl--glucosamine (a 2- ...

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

phospholipid Phospholipids are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typ ...

s, and complex

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s. This has resulted not only in one of the smallest known

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

s of any living organism, but also one of the most genetically stable. The

symbiotic Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biolo ...

relationship with aphids began between 160 million and 280 million years ago, and has persisted through maternal transmission and cospeciation. Aphids have developed a bilobed bacteriome containing sixty to eighty bacteriocyte cells in which the life cycle of ''Buchnera'' associated with aphids is confined to. A mature

may carry an estimated 5.6 million ''Buchnera'' cells. ''Buchnera'' has lost regulatory factors, allowing continuous overproduction of

tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromat ...

and other

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

s. Each bacteriocyte contains multiple vesicles, symbiosomes derived from the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

Genome

The sizes of various ''Buchnera'' genomes are in the range of 600 to 650 kb and encode on the order of 500 to 560 proteins. Many contain also one or two plasmids (2.3 to 11 kb in size). As with many

s, Abbot and Moran 2002 find ''Buchnera'' in ''

Pemphigus Pemphigus ( or ) is a rare group of blistering autoimmune diseases that affect the skin and mucous membranes. The name is derived from the Greek root ''pemphix'', meaning "blister". In pemphigus, autoantibody, autoantibodies form against de ...

obesinymphae'' to be undergoing relatively high

genetic drift Genetic drift, also known as random genetic drift, allelic drift or the Wright effect, is the change in the Allele frequency, frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to random chance. Genetic drift may cause gene va ...

(i.e., relative to all organisms). This is evidenced by extremely low

gene polymorphism A gene is said to be polymorphic if more than one allele occupies that gene's Locus (genetics), locus within a population. In addition to having more than one allele at a specific locus, each allele must also occur in the population at a rate of ...

and some nonsynonymous variants.

''Buchnera'' and plant viruses

''Buchnera'' also increases the transmission of

plant virus Plant viruses are viruses that have the potential to affect plants. Like all other viruses, plant viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that do not have the molecular machinery to replicate without a host. Plant viruses can be pathoge ...

es by producing symbionin, a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

that binds to the viral coat and protects it inside the aphid. This makes it more likely that the virion will survive and be able to infect another plant when the aphid next feeds.

History

''Buchnera'' was named after Paul Buchner by Paul Baumann and his graduate student, and the first molecular characterization of a symbiotic bacterium was carried out by Baumann, using ''Buchnera''. The initial studies on ''Buchnera'' later led to studies on symbionts of many groups of insects, pursued by numerous investigators, including Paul and Linda Baumann, Nancy Moran, Serap Aksoy, and Roy Gross, who together investigated symbionts of aphids, tsetse flies, ants, leafhoppers, mealybugs, whiteflies, psyllids, and others.

References

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External links

''Buchnera'' Genome Projects
(fro
Genomes OnLine Database

Comparative Analysis of ''Buchnera'' Genomes
(at DOE's IMG system) {{Taxonbar, from1=Q383453, from2=Q18606581 Aphids Enterobacterales