Research Topics
| Jennifer WernegreenSummaryAffiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory Country: USA Publications
Research Grants
| Collaborators |
Detail Information
Publications
One nutritional symbiosis begat another: phylogenetic evidence that the ant tribe Camponotini acquired Blochmannia by tending sap-feeding insectsJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
BMC Evol Biol 9:292. 2009..In this study, we performed a molecular screen, based on PCR amplification of 16S rDNA, to identify bacterial associates of diverse Camponotini species...- Endosymbiosis: lessons in conflict resolutionJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
PLoS Biol 2:E68. 2004 - Genome evolution in an insect cell: distinct features of an ant-bacterial partnershipJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Biol Bull 204:221-31. 2003..This review describes some recent insights into the evolutionary genetics of obligate insect-bacteria symbioses, with a particular focus on an intriguing association between the bacterial endosymbiont Blochmannia and its ant hosts... - Genome evolution in bacterial endosymbionts of insectsJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Nat Rev Genet 3:850-61. 2002..Further genomic comparisons should reveal the generality of these features among bacterial mutualists and the extent to which they are shared with other intracellular bacteria, including obligate pathogens... - Mutation exposed: a neutral explanation for extreme base composition of an endosymbiont genomeJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, The Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
J Mol Evol 59:849-58. 2004..Thus they further corroborate recent evidence for the critical role of reduced N(e) in the molecular evolution of bacterial endosymbionts... - Remaining flexible in old alliances: functional plasticity in constrained mutualismsJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
DNA Cell Biol 28:371-82. 2009..This symbiont variation is best understood by considering ant colony as the host superorganism. In this eusocial host, the bacteria meet the needs of the colony and not necessarily the individual ants that house them... - Slip into something more functional: selection maintains ancient frameshifts in homopolymeric sequencesJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Mol Biol Evol 27:833-9. 2010..Although the advantage of the frameshift itself is less clear, it may offer a mechanism to lower effective gene expression by reducing but not eliminating transcripts that encode full-length proteins... - Parallel acceleration of evolutionary rates in symbiont genes underlying host nutritionJ J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, The Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Mol Phylogenet Evol 19:479-85. 2001..In addition, the discovery of trpEG pseudogenes in Buchnera-U. obscurum further supports reduced selection on amino acid biosynthesis... - Vertical transmission of biosynthetic plasmids in aphid endosymbionts (Buchnera)J J Wernegreen
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
J Bacteriol 183:785-90. 2001..Synonymous divergences indicate elevated mutation on plasmids relative to chromosomal genes... - Decay of mutualistic potential in aphid endosymbionts through silencing of biosynthetic loci: Buchnera of DiuraphisJ J Wernegreen
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA
Proc Biol Sci 267:1423-31. 2000.... - Decoupling of genome size and sequence divergence in a symbiotic bacteriumJ J Wernegreen
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
J Bacteriol 182:3867-9. 2000..This exceptional size conservation may reflect the inability of this obligate mutualist to acquire foreign DNA and reduced selection for genetic novelty within a static intracellular environment... - Intraspecific phylogenetic congruence among multiple symbiont genomesD J Funk
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA
Proc Biol Sci 267:2517-21. 2000..These results may reflect the obligate nature of this intimate mutualism and indicate opportunities for adaptive coevolution among linked symbiont genomes... - Intraspecific variation in symbiont genomes: bottlenecks and the aphid-buchnera associationD J Funk
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Genetics 157:477-89. 2001..However, our study cannot rule out the possibility that mechanisms other than bottlenecks also contribute to reduced N(e) at aphid and endosymbiont loci... - Comparison of the evolutionary dynamics of symbiotic and housekeeping loci: a case for the genetic coherence of rhizobial lineagesJ J Wernegreen
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, USA
Mol Biol Evol 16:98-113. 1999..Differences across rhizobial genera in the specificity of host associations imply that the evolutionary dynamics of the symbiosis vary considerably across lineages in native settings... - Evidence for genetic drift in endosymbionts (Buchnera): analyses of protein-coding genesJ J Wernegreen
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, USA
Mol Biol Evol 16:83-97. 1999..Combined, these results suggest a decreased effectiveness of purifying selection in purging endosymbiont populations of slightly deleterious mutations, particularly those affecting codon usage and amino acid identity... - Small genome of Candidatus Blochmannia, the bacterial endosymbiont of Camponotus, implies irreversible specialization to an intracellular lifestyleJ J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Microbiology 148:2551-6. 2002..Due to restricted gene exchange in obligate endosymbionts, the substantial gene loss in Blochmannia and other insect mutualists may reflect irreversible specialization to a host cellular environment... - A conservative test of genetic drift in the endosymbiotic bacterium Buchnera: slightly deleterious mutations in the chaperonin groELJoshua T Herbeck
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Genetics 165:1651-60. 2003..Rather, they further support the hypothesis that drift is an important force driving accelerated protein evolution in this obligate mutualist... - 50 million years of genomic stasis in endosymbiotic bacteriaIvica Tamas
Department of Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Center, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
Science 296:2376-9. 2002..The genomic stasis of B. aphidicola, likely attributable to the loss of phages, repeated sequences, and recA, indicates that B. aphidicola is no longer a source of ecological innovation for its hosts... - Endosymbiont gene functions impaired and rescued by polymerase infidelity at poly(A) tractsIvica Tamas
Department of Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, SE 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105:14934-9. 2008..These features of homopolymeric tracts could be exploited to manipulate gene expression in small synthetic genomes... - Toward a Wolbachia multilocus sequence typing system: discrimination of Wolbachia strains present in Drosophila speciesCharalampos Paraskevopoulos
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, 2 Seferi St, 30100, Agrinio, Greece
Curr Microbiol 53:388-95. 2006..The results demonstrate the discriminatory power of MLST for identifying strains and clonal lineages of Wolbachia and provide a robust foundation for studying the ecology and evolution of this widespread endosymbiont... - The tripartite associations between bacteriophage, Wolbachia, and arthropodsSeth R Bordenstein
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
PLoS Pathog 2:e43. 2006..Clarifying the roles of lytic and lysogenic phage development in Wolbachia biology will effectively structure inquiries into this research topic... - Widespread recombination throughout Wolbachia genomesLaura Baldo
Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, USA
Mol Biol Evol 23:437-49. 2006.... - For better or worse: genomic consequences of intracellular mutualism and parasitismJennifer J Wernegreen
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Curr Opin Genet Dev 15:572-83. 2005..Surprising discoveries of conjugation machinery in the parasite Rickettsia felis and the amoebae symbiont Parachlamydia sp. suggest that DNA transfer might play key roles in some intracellular taxa... - Genome sequence of Blochmannia pennsylvanicus indicates parallel evolutionary trends among bacterial mutualists of insectsPatrick H Degnan
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Genome Res 15:1023-33. 2005..Furthermore, the increased rates of amino acid substitution and gene loss in Blochmannia have occurred in a lineage-specific fashion, which may reflect life history differences of their ant hosts... - The roles of positive and negative selection in the molecular evolution of insect endosymbiontsAdam J Fry
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Gene 355:1-10. 2005..In the course of this study, we reanalyzed variation at Buchnera groEL and found no evidence of positive selection that was previously reported... - A strong effect of AT mutational bias on amino acid usage in Buchnera is mitigated at high-expression genesCarmen Palacios
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Mol Biol Evol 19:1575-84. 2002.... - Nonhomogeneous model of sequence evolution indicates independent origins of primary endosymbionts within the enterobacteriales (gamma-Proteobacteria)Joshua T Herbeck
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
Mol Biol Evol 22:520-32. 2005..This application of a nonhomogeneous model offers a computationally feasible way to test specific phylogenetic hypotheses for taxa with heterogeneous and nonstationary base composition... - Bacteriophage flux in endosymbionts (Wolbachia): infection frequency, lateral transfer, and recombination ratesSeth R Bordenstein
The Marine Biological Laboratory, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
Mol Biol Evol 21:1981-91. 2004..Gene transfer by bacteriophages could drive significant evolutionary change in the genomes of intracellular bacteria that are typically considered highly stable and prone to genomic degradation... - Host-symbiont stability and fast evolutionary rates in an ant-bacterium association: cospeciation of camponotus species and their endosymbionts, candidatus blochmanniaPatrick H Degnan
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
Syst Biol 53:95-110. 2004..These rates are several-fold higher than those for related bacteria Buchnera aphidicola and Escherichia coli. Phylogenetic congruence among Blochmannia genes indicates genome stability that typifies primary endosymbionts of insects... - Gene expression level influences amino acid usage, but not codon usage, in the tsetse fly endosymbiont WigglesworthiaJoshua T Herbeck
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Microbiology 149:2585-96. 2003..However, these impacts of mutation and drift are apparently attenuated by selection on amino acid composition at high-expression genes...
Research Grants
- MOLECULAR EVOLUTIONARY CONSEQUENCES OF ENDOSYMBIOSISJennifer Wernegreen; Fiscal Year: 2006..abstract_text> ..
- MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF DELETERIOUS EVOLUTION IN BACTERIAJennifer Wernegreen; Fiscal Year: 2007..By deciphering fundamental mechanisms that influence bacterial genome evolution, this study will contribute to a predictive framework for understanding how microbes evolve. ..
- MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF DELETERIOUS EVOLUTION IN BACTERIAJennifer Wernegreen; Fiscal Year: 2009..By deciphering fundamental mechanisms that influence bacterial genome evolution, this study will contribute to a predictive framework for understanding how microbes evolve. ..
- MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF DELETERIOUS EVOLUTION IN BACTERIAJennifer J Wernegreen; Fiscal Year: 2010..By deciphering fundamental mechanisms that influence bacterial genome evolution, this study will contribute to a predictive framework for understanding how microbes evolve. ..