Abstract.
Although Buchnera, the endosymbiotic bacteria of aphids, are close relatives of Escherichia coli, their genome size is only a seventh that of E. coli. In this study, we estimated the genomic copy number of Buchnera by dot-blot hybridization and fluorimetry using a video-intensified microscope photon-counting system and obtained convincing evidence that each cell of these bacteria contains an average of 120 genomic copies. Thus, the Buchnera symbiont, with many copies of a small-sized genome, is reminiscent of cell organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts.
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Received: 25 November 1998 / Accepted: 25 December 1998
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Komaki, K., Ishikawa, H. Intracellular Bacterial Symbionts of Aphids Possess Many Genomic Copies per Bacterium. J Mol Evol 48, 717–722 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00006516
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00006516