Wolbachia pipientis

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Wolbachia pipientis

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria; Rickettsiales; Rickettsiaceae; Wolbachieae

Species

NCBI: Taxonomy

Genus species

Description and significance

Wolbachia are gram-negative bacteria that form intracellular inherited infections in many invertebrates. They are extremely common with 20-75% of all insects being infected. Moreover they infect numerous non-insect invertebrates including nematodes, mites and spiders. The limits of the host range of Wolbachia are not fully appreciated at this time. Much of the success of Wolbachia can be attributed to the diverse phenotypes that result from infection. These range from classical mutualism to reproductive parasitism as characterized by the ability of Wolbachia to override chromosomal sex determination, induce parthenogenesis, selectively kill males, influence sperm competition and generate cytoplasmic incompatibility in early embryos. The unique biology of Wolbachia has attracted a growing number of researchers interested in questions ranging from the evolutionary implications of infection through to the use of this agent for pest and disease control

Genome structure

Molecule Name	Chromosome Wolbachia pipientis wMel
Type	chromosome
Topology	circular
GenBank Accession.Version	AE017196.1
Sequence Length	1267782 bp	100.00%
Primary Annotation Coding Regions	1085910 bp	85.65%
Primary Annotation Intergenic Regions	181872 bp	14.34%
Primary Annotation: Number of Genes	1271	100.00%
Primary Annotation: Number of Genes assigned to role ids	821	64.59%
Primary Annotation: Number of Genes not assigned to role ids	0	0.00%
Primary Annotation: Conserved Hypothetical Genes	113	8.89%
Primary Annotation: Hypothetical Genes	337	26.51%
Number of A	408603 bp	32.22%
Number of T	412478 bp	32.53%
Number of G	222390 bp	17.54%
Number of C	224311 bp	17.69%
Number of A+T	821081 bp	64.75%
Number of G+C	446701 bp	35.23%

Cell structure and metabolism

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Ecology

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Pathology

How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

Application to Biotechnology

Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?

Current Research

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References

Description and Significance:

Wolbachia - wolbachia.sols.uq.edu.au