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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Methods for the Extraction of Endosymbionts from the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci
Published on: June 19, 2017
Bacterial endosymbionts of insects: insights from comparative genomics
Rosario Gil1, Amparo Latorre, Andrés Moya
1Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva and Departament de Genètica, Universitat de València, Apartado Postal 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain. rosario.gil@uv.es
Abstract:
The development of molecular techniques for the study of uncultured bacteria allowed the extensive study of the widespread association between insects and intracellular symbiotic bacteria. Most of the bacterial endosymbionts involved in such associations are gamma-proteobacteria, closely related to Escherichia coli. In recent years, five genomes from insect endosymbionts have been sequenced, allowing the performance of extensive genome comparative analysis that, as a complement of phylogenetic studies, and analysis on individual genes, can help to understand the different traits of this particular association, including how the symbiotic process is established, the explanation of the special features of these microbial genomes, the bases of this intimate association and the possible future that awaits the endosymbionts with extremely reduced genomes.
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