Loss of genes for DNA recombination and repair in the reductive genome evolution of thioautotrophic symbionts of Calyptogena clams

摘要

BackgroundTwo Calyptogena clam intracellular obligate symbionts, Ca. Vesicomyosocius okutanii (Vok; C. okutanii symbiont) and Ca. Ruthia magnifica (Rma; C. magnifica symbiont), have small genomes (1.02 and 1.16 Mb, respectively) with low G+C contents (31.6% and 34.0%, respectively) and are thought to be in an ongoing stage of reductive genome evolution (RGE). They lack recA and some genes for DNA repair, including mutY. The loss of recA and mutY is thought to contribute to the stabilization of their genome architectures and GC bias, respectively. To understand how these genes were lost from the symbiont genomes, we surveyed these genes in the genomes from 10 other Calyptogena clam symbionts using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).