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Genomic features underlying evolutionary transitions of Apibacter to honeybee gut symbionts
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  • Wenjun Zhang,
  • Xue Zhang,
  • Qinzhi Su,
  • Min Tang,
  • Hao Zheng,
  • Xin Zhou
Wenjun Zhang
China Agricultural University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Xue Zhang
China Agricultural University
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Qinzhi Su
China Agricultural University
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Min Tang
China Agricultural University
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Hao Zheng
China Agricultural University
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Xin Zhou
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, People’s Republic of China
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Abstract

The symbiotic bacteria associated with honeybee gut have likely transformed from a free-living or parasitic lifestyle, through a close evolutionary association with the insect host. However, little is known about the genomic mechanism underlying bacterial transition to exclusive adaptation to the bee gut. Here we compared the genomes of bee gut symbionts Apibacter with their close relatives living in different lifestyles. We found that despite of general reduction in the Apibacter genome, genes involved in amino acid synthesis and monosaccharide detoxification were retained, which was likely beneficial to the host. Interestingly, the microaerobic Apibacter species have specifically preserved the NAR operon encoding for the nitrate respiration pathway which in contrast, is absent from the related non-free-living microaerobic pathogenic relatives. The NAR operon is also conserved in the cohabiting bee microbe Snodgrasella, but with a differed structure. This convergence implies a crucial role of respiration nitrate reduction for microaerophilic microbiomes to colonize bee gut epithelium. Genes involved in lipid, histidine and phenylacetate degradation are partially lost in Apibacter, possibly associated with the loss of pathogenicity. Antibiotic resistance genes were only sporadically distributed among Apibacter species, but condensed in their pathogenic relatives. Collectively, this study advanced our understanding of genomic transition underlying specialization in bee gut symbionts.
14 May 2020Submitted to Molecular Ecology
15 May 2020Submission Checks Completed
15 May 2020Assigned to Editor
12 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
16 Jul 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending