Sodalis praecaptivus subsp. spalangiae subsp. nov., a nascent bacterial endosymbiont isolated from the parasitoid wasp, Spalangia cameroni
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: An endosymbiotic bacterium of the genus Sodalis, designated as strain HZ T , was cultured from the parasitoid wasp Spalangia cameroni , that develops on pupae of various host flies. The bacterium was detected in S. cameroni that developed on house flies, Musca domestica , in a poultry facility in Hazon, northern Israel. Following culture, this bacterium displayed no surface motility on LB agar, is rod-shaped and irregular in size, approximating 10-30 nm in diameter and 5-20 μm in length. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that strain HZ T is closely related to Sodalis praecaptivus strain HS T , a free-living species of the genus Sodalis that includes many insect endosymbionts. Although these bacteria maintain >98% sequence identity in shared genes, genomic characterization revealed that strain HZ T has undergone substantial reductive evolution, such that it lacks many gene functions that are maintained in S. praecaptivus strain HS T . Based on the results of phylogenetic, genomic and chemotaxonomic analyses, we propose that this endosymbiont should be classified in a new subspecies as Sodalis praecaptivus subsp. s palangiae subsp. nov. The type strain for this new subspecies is HZ T (=ATCC TSD-398 T =NCIMB 15482 T ). The subspecies Sodalis praecaptivus subsp. praecaptivus strain HS T is created automatically with the type strain ATCC BAA-2554 T (=DSMZ 27494 T ).
Authors: Li Szhen Teh, Sarit Rohkin Shalom, Ian James, Anna Dolgova, Elad Chiel, Colin Dale
Institutions: University of Utah, University of Haifa
Language: English
Subfield: Insect Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W4403827686