Intrahost mutational dynamics parallel long-term genome evolution in endosymbionts

Clicks: 1
ID: 315296
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #219 of 243 articles by views in molecular biology and evolution

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 243 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Obligate endosymbionts of insects undergo extreme genome evolution, marked by accelerated molecular evolution, severe base-pair compositional bias, and massive gene loss. However, the microevolutionary processes driving these patterns remain poorly understood, as they occur at intrahost population scales that are rarely captured. To address this gap, we measured intrahost genetic diversity of two endosymbionts, Karelsulcia and Nasuia, from the aster leafhopper, Macrosteles quadrilineatus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Contrary to the theoretical expectation of strict clonality, we found that both endosymbionts harbor measurable intrahost genetic variation, with lineage-specific mutational dynamics that parallels long-term evolutionary trends. Karelsulcia showed sparse intrahost variation dominated by repeat-associated indels, while Nasuia exhibited more abundant single-nucleotide mutations that appear to shape genome-wide A + T bias. Mitochondrial heteroplasmy did not covary with endosymbiont nucleotide diversity, indicating that these patterns are not driven by host-level dynamics. Notably, recurrent nonsynonymous variants in Nasuia affect essential genes for amino acid biosynthesis and translation. The intrahost mutational patterns we observed in endosymbionts are consistent with long-term sequence changes between our population founder genome and contemporary endosymbiont populations after ∼11 years of maintenance. Taken together, our results demonstrate how distinct mutational processes operating at the intrahost populations scale drive macroevolutionary patterns in endosymbiont genomes. Moreover, our study establishes that laboratory endosymbiont systems provide a powerful framework for dissecting and understanding these fundamental evolutionary processes.
Reference Key
openalex_W7162803634 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Younghwan Kwak, Gordon Bennett
Journal molecular biology and evolution
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/molbev/msag131
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag131
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.