Diversity, genomic content and function of endosymbiotic enterobacteria of arthropods.

Bacteria in many arthropods are required for insect development and nutrition. Primary endosymbionts are non culturable and have reduced genomes that reflect their functionality. We have found in triatomas (bugs, Fig. 8) that transmit Chagas disease, non culturable bacteria belonging to g -Proteobacteria closely related to E. coli, most of them belonging to Arsenophonus . E. coli genomic microarrays allowed us to determine that Arsenophonus have a reduced genome. We are interested in exploring endosymbiotic bacteria from other arthropods