Wigglesworthia glossinidia

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Wigglesworthia glossinidia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Pseudomonadota
Class: Gammaproteobacteria
Order: Enterobacterales
Family: Erwiniaceae
Genus:
Wigglesworthia
Species:
W. glossinidia
Binomial name
Wigglesworthia glossinidia
Aksoy, 1995

Wigglesworthia glossinidia is a species of gram-negative bacteria that is a bacterial endosymbiont of the tsetse fly.[1] Because of this relationship, Wigglesworthia has lost a large part of its genome, leaving it with one of the smallest genomes of any living organism, consisting of a single chromosome of 700,000 bp and a plasmid of 5,200.[2] Together with Buchnera aphidicola, Wigglesworthia has been the subject of genetic research into the minimal genome necessary for any living organism.[3]

Phylogenetic studies studies suggest that the symbiotic relationship between W. glossinidia began 59-80 million years ago.

B-complex vitamins that the fly does not get from its diet of blood.[2] Without the vitamins Wigglesworthia produces, the tsetse fly has greatly reduced growth and reproduction.[5] Since the tsetse fly is the primary vector of Trypanosoma brucei, the pathogen that causes African trypanosomiasis, it has been suggested that W. glossinidia may one day be used to help control the spread of this disease.[2]

History

W. glossinidia was first described in 1995 and was named for the British

Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth.[1]

References

  1. ^
    PMID 7547309
    .
  2. ^
    S2CID 20604183
    .
  3. ^ [email protected], University of Bath media team. "Press Release - 29 March 2006 University of Bath". www.bath.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  4. ISSN 0022-2844
    .
  5. ^ Nogge, G. 1976. Sterility in tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans Westwood) caused by loss of symbionts. Experientia 32, 995−996.

External links

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