BIOC 4403 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cytosine, Experimental Evolution, Wild Type
4 Mar 2016
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"minimal genome": why do people care about the. "minimal genome": insect nutritional symbioses, mutual interdependence in insect nutritional symbioses - The minimal set of genes that can support the basic cellular processes of a free-living organism in a "rich" growth medium and in the absence of any selective pressure. Synthetic biologists are particularly interested in the minimal genome concept. Mutual interdependence of the metabolism of a host insect and one or more bacterial symbionts. 10-15% of insect species are dependent on bacteria for viability and reproduction. In each case, the (endo)symbiont genomes have become much smaller than those of their closest- free living bacterial relatives. The best known examples are aphids, plant pests, capable of causing major agricultural damage. They feed on plants they suck the sap out of the phloem. This diet is rich in carbohydrates and deficient in amino acids.
