- The entomopathogenic bacterial endosymbionts Xenorhabdus and
Photorhabdus: convergent lifestyles from divergent genomes
(2011) - Members of the genus Xenorhabdus are entomopathogenic
bacteria that associate with nematodes. The nematode-bacteria
pair infects and kills insects, with both partners contributing
to insect pathogenesis and the bacteria providing nutrition to
the nematode from available insect-derived nutrients. The
nematode provides the bacteria with protection from predators,
access to nutrients, and a mechanism of dispersal. Members of
the bacterial genus Photorhabdus also associate with nematodes
to kill insects, and both genera of bacteria provide similar
services to their different nematode hosts through unique
physiological and metabolic mechanisms. We posited that these
differences would be reflected in their respective genomes. To
test this, we sequenced to completion the genomes of Xenorhabdus
nematophila ATCC 19061 and Xenorhabdus bovienii SS-2004. As
expected, both Xenorhabdus genomes