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Nucleotide composition and kinetic complexity of the genomic DNA of an intracellular symbiont in the pea aphidAcyrthosiphon pisum

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Summary

An intracellular symbiont was isolated from the mycetocyte of the pea aphidAcyrthosiphon pisum, and its genomic DNA was compared with those ofEscherichia coli andMycoplasma capricolum with respect to nucleotide composition and kinetic complexity. Thermal dissociation, CsCl density equilibrium centrifugation, and high-performance liquid chromatography of the nuclease P1 digest all indicated that the G+C content of the endosymbiont DNA is as low as 30%. In this respect, the endosymbiont resembledMycoplasma species. The reassociation kinetics of genomic DNA labeled by nick translation suggested that the endosymbiont genome is 1.4×1010 daltons in size, about 5 and 18 times as large as those ofE. coli andM. capricolum, respectively. The results were confirmed by reassociation of endosymbiont DNA labeled by incubation with [3Hthymidine in Grace's medium. The endosymbiont genome of the aphid was about 500 times larger than those of leafhopper endosymbionts previously analyzed by ultracentrifugation. These characteristic properties of the aphid endosymbiont genome are discussed in connection with the evolution of cell organelles, and with reference to a previous finding that most of the genes of the aphid endosymbiont are not expressed when present intracellularly.

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  1. Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, 153, Tokyo, Japan

    Hajime Ishikawa

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  1. Hajime Ishikawa
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Ishikawa, H. Nucleotide composition and kinetic complexity of the genomic DNA of an intracellular symbiont in the pea aphidAcyrthosiphon pisum . J Mol Evol 24, 205–211 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02111233

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02111233

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