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Figure 1 | BMC Genomics

Figure 1

From: Comparative analysis of the Photorhabdus luminescens and the Yersinia enterocolitica genomes: uncovering candidate genes involved in insect pathogenicity

Figure 1

The life cycles of P. luminescens and Y. enterocolitica. Right: P. luminescens is an endosymbiont of the nematode species H. bacteriophora, both living in a highly specific symbiosis. When the nematodes once have infected the insect larvae, they release the highly entomopathogenic bacteria directly into the hemocoel, resulting in a rapid death of the host. The carcass is a rich food source allowing proliferation of both the nematodes and the bacteria. When the cadaver is depleted, nematodes and bacteria reassociate, emerge from the insect, and scan the soil for new victims. Left: Y. enterocolitica is found in the soil, in water, in meat or within the gastrointestinal tract of birds [130] or mammals, but is primarily considered as a human pathogen. Middle: Y. enterocolitica are able to infect mammals, but are also toxic to insects which are assumed to play a role in evolution and transmission of this bacterium. In contrast to P. luminescens which is infectious only towards insect larvae, Y. enterocolitica has also been isolated from adult insects [1]. The life cycle stage shared by P. luminescens and Y. enterocolitica corresponds to a common pool of virulence factors as shown by genome dissection presented here.

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