We propose a scheme for the origin of mitochondria based on phylogenetic reconstructions with more than 400 yeast nuclear genes that encode mitochondrial proteins. Half of the yeast mitochondrial proteins have no discernable bacterial homologues, while one-tenth are unequivocally of alpha-proteobacterial origin. These data suggest that the majority of genes encoding yeast mitochondrial proteins...

The rice seedling blight fungus Rhizopus microsporus and its endosymbiont Burkholderia rhizoxinica form an unusual, highly specific alliance to produce the highly potent antimitotic phytotoxin rhizoxin. Yet, it has remained a riddle how bacteria invade the fungal cells. Genome mining for potential symbiosis factors and functional analyses revealed that a type 2 secretion system (T2SS) of the ba...

Chlorarachniophytes and cryptophytes possess complex plastids that were acquired by the ingestion of a green and red algal endosymbiont, respectively. The plastids are surrounded by four membranes, and a relict nucleus, called the nucleomorph, remains in the periplastidal compartment, which corresponds to the remnant cytoplasm of the endosymbiont. Nucleomorphs contain a greatly reduced genome t...

Recent progress in understanding the origins of plastids from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria is reviewed. Establishing when during geological time the endosymbiosis occurred remains elusive, but progress has been made in defining the cyanobacterial lineage most closely related to plastids, and some mechanistic insight into the possible existence of cryptic endosymbioses perhaps involving Chlamydia...

The draft genome assembly of the Wolbachia endosymbiont of Wuchereria bancrofti (wWb) consists of 1060 850 bp in 100 contigs and contains 961 ORFs, with a single copy of the 5S rRNA, 16S rRNA and 23S rRNA and each of the 34 tRNA genes. Phylogenetic core genome analyses show wWb to cluster with other strains in supergroup D of the Wolbachia phylogeny, while being most closely related to the Wolb...

Introducing Nanotechnology to Mechanical and Civil Engineering Students Through Materials Science Courses Marwan Al-Haik1 ∗, Claudia Luhrs2, Zayd Leseman3, and Mahmoud Reda Taha4 1Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 2Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943, USA 3Department of Mechanica...

Two new species of Liocanthydrus Guignot, L. zanclus sp. nov. and L. mecespilus sp. nov., are described and illustrated from the Brazilian states of Goiás and Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. New records from Brazil are also provided: Liocanthydrus clayae (J. Balfour-Browne) from the state of Pará, L. bicolor (J. Balfour-Browne) from the states of Amazonas and Pará...