The most successful parasite on earth

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	The most successful parasite on earth

JohnWaterman

7-31-2009 5:46 PM

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JohnWaterman says:

An entire bacterial genome discovered inside that of a fruit fly

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8-2-2009 1:28 PM

disenchantedcitizen

Another successful parasite is the human being.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/8064afad-d5ca-4fe2-b5b2-0a9241affe4e/3B7BA12F-1671-4EA1-8FCE-892D3E2EC549/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php" style="font-size: 11px;">scienceblogs.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php"><P><A href="http://bpr3.org/?p=52"><IMG width="80" height="50" alt="Blogging on Peer-Reviewed Research" src="http://bpr3.org/images/rbicons/ResearchBlogging-Medium-White.png" class="inset" /></A><SPAN>A humble species of <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila">fruit fly</A> is the genetic equivalent of a Russian doll - peer inside its DNA and you will see the entire genome of a species of bacteria hidden within. </SPAN>
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/scienceblogs.com/img/90E069CD-293B-4D97-8A12-125144107117" alt="Wolbachia in yellow infecting insect cells in red." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php"><SPAN>The bacteria in question is <EM><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolbachia">Wolbachia</A></EM>, the most successful parasite on earth and infects about 20% of the world's species of insects. It's a poster child for selfishness. To further </SPAN><SPAN>its own dynasty, it has evolved a series of remarkable techniques for ensuring that it gets passed on from host to host. Sometimes it gives infected individuals the ability to reproduce asexually; at other times, it <A href="http://notexactlyrocketscience.wordpress.com/2007/07/14/butterflies-evolve-resistance-to-male-killing-bacteria-in-record-time/">does away with an entire gender</A>. </SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php">an even more drastic strategy used by <EM>Wolbachia</EM> to preserve its own immortality - inserting its entire genome wholesale into that of another living thing.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php">the strategy</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php">has paid off</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php">From a single ancestor that inveigled its way into the fly's genome, <EM>Wolbachia</EM> gained a free ride across the world</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/scienceblogs.com/img/64309449-9BA2-4EEB-82DA-D9A252FDFFE5" alt="Drosophila ananassae has a stowaway in its genome." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/an_entire_bacterial_genome_discovered_inside_that_of_a_fruit.php"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/scienceblogs.com/img/19C5AD21-7DFF-4238-A669-2F659238563D" alt="Wolbachia in yellow infecting a Drosophila ovary." /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/3B7BA12F-1671-4EA1-8FCE-892D3E2EC549/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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