The γ-proteobacterial symbionts of insects are a model group for comparative studies of
genome reduction. The phylogenetic proximity of these reduced genomes to the larger …

The small genomes of obligate intracellular bacteria are often presumed to be impervious to
mobile DNA and the fluid genetic processes that drive diversification in free-living bacteria …

By manipulating arthropod reproduction worldwide, the heritable endosymbiont Wolbachia
has spread to pandemic levels. Little is known about the microbial basis of cytoplasmic …

Background Pseudogenes often manifest themselves as disabled copies of known genes. In
prokaryotes, it was generally believed (with a few well-known exceptions) that they were …

Background Alpha proteobacteria are one of the largest and most extensively studied
groups within bacteria. However, for these bacteria as a whole and for all of its major …

As polyphagous, holometabolous insects, tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) provide a
unique habitat for endosymbiotic bacteria, especially those microbes associated with the …

In order to explore microevolutionary trends in bacteria and archaea, we constructed a data
set of 41 alignable tight genome clusters (ATGCs). We show that the ratio of the medians of …

Several factors can affect the density of mobile DNA in bacterial genomes including rates of
exposure to novel gene pools, recombination, and reductive evolution. These traits are …

Bacteriophage flux can cause the majority of genetic diversity in free-living bacteria. This
tenet of bacterial genome evolution generally does not extend to obligate intracellular …

A number of sap-sucking insects harbor endosymbionts, which are thought to play an
important role in the development of their hosts. One of the most important rice pests, the …