This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: AEM.01877-06v1 73/5/1659    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Allen, J. M. Articles by Braig, H. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Allen, J. M. Articles by Braig, H. R. Agricola Articles by Allen, J. M. Articles by Braig, H. R.

Evolutionary Relationships of "Candidatus Riesia spp.," Endosymbiotic Enterobacteriaceae Living within Hematophagous Primate Lice

Zoology Department, University of Florida, 223 Bartram Hall, Gainesville, Florida 32611,¹ Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Dickinson Hall, Gainesville, Florida 32611,² School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Bangor LL57 2UW, United Kingdom³

Received 7 August 2006/ Accepted 30 December 2006

The primary endosymbiotic bacteria from three species of parasitic primate lice were characterized molecularly. We have confirmed the characterization of the primary endosymbiont (P-endosymbiont) of the human head/body louse Pediculus humanus and provide new characterizations of the P-endosymbionts from Pediculus schaeffi from chimpanzees and Pthirus pubis, the pubic louse of humans. The endosymbionts show an average percent sequence divergence of 11 to 15% from the most closely related known bacterium "Candidatus Arsenophonus insecticola." We propose that two additional species be added to the genus "Candidatus Riesia." The new species proposed within "Candidatus Riesia" have sequence divergences of 3.4% and 10 to 12% based on uncorrected pairwise differences. Our Bayesian analysis shows that the branching pattern for the primary endosymbionts was the same as that for their louse hosts, suggesting a long coevolutionary history between primate lice and their primary endosymbionts. We used a calibration of 5.6 million years to date the divergence between endosymbionts from human and chimpanzee lice and estimated an evolutionary rate of nucleotide substitution of 0.67% per million years, which is 15 to 30 times faster than previous estimates calculated for Buchnera, the primary endosymbiont in aphids. Given the evidence for cospeciation with primate lice and the evidence for fast evolutionary rates, this lineage of endosymbiotic bacteria can be evaluated as a fast-evolving marker of both louse and primate evolutionary histories.

Published ahead of print on 12 January 2007.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Fukatsu, T., Koga, R., Smith, W. A., Tanaka, K., Nikoh, N., Sasaki-Fukatsu, K., Yoshizawa, K., Dale, C., Clayton, D. H. (2007). Bacterial Endosymbiont of the Slender Pigeon Louse, Columbicola columbae, Allied to Endosymbionts of Grain Weevils and Tsetse Flies. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 6660-6668 [Abstract] [Full Text]