What is it about?
Insect frequently harbour symbiotic bacteria living within their tissues. These bacteria, called endosymbionts, prove to be very fastidious to manipulate outside of their host, and most of them can not be cultivated. We developed a culture system in which we can cultivate a previously intractable fly endosymbiont called Spiroplasma. For the first time we where able to compare the biology of Spiroplasma when it is inside and outside the host.
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Why is it important?
This work is the first step towards the development of genetic engineering tools suitable for endosymbiotic bacteria, which will greatly foster insect symbiosis research.
Perspectives
Spiroplasma can infect several Diptera in the wild, including disease vectors (e.g. mosquitos and tsetse flies), and strongly impacts their physiology. Having reliable tools to study this endosymbiont will lead to a better understanding of symbiotic insects biology and possibly to innovative insect control strategies.
Florent Masson
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In Vitro
Culture of the Insect Endosymbiont
Spiroplasma poulsonii
Highlights Bacterial Genes Involved in Host-Symbiont Interaction, mBio, March 2018, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00024-18.
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