Dynamic evolution of diaphorin biosynthetic genes against a background of genome conservation in Profftella

Profftella symbionts in Diaphorina lycii show lineage-specific structural variation in diaphorin synthases DipP and DipT, with up to seven amplified ACP copies.

• Why it matters: Even in highly reduced, conserved obligate symbiont genomes, it is unclear whether specialized metabolite pathways evolve dynamically or remain fixed.
• What they did: They sequenced Profftella and Carsonella genomes from Diaphorina lycii (471 kb and 174 kb) and compared them with Profftella from D. citri and D. cf. continua, focusing on the 20 diaphorin biosynthetic genes.
• The result: While genome organization and diaphorin pathway layout were conserved, tandem ACP domain arrays in DipP and DipT varied in copy number across Profftella lineages, indicating ongoing evolutionary dynamism in this specialized system.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.