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Colin Dale Dept of Biology "Type-III secretion systems" October 26, 2005 3:05pm, LCB 215 Sodalis glossinidius, a maternally transmitted endosymbiont of tsetse flies, maintains two phylogenetically distinct type-III secretion systems encoded by chromosomal symbiosis regions designated SSR-1 and SSR-2. Although both symbiosis regions are closely related to extant pathogenicity islands with similar gene inventories, SSR-2 has undergone novel degenerative adaptations in the transition to mutualism. Notably, SSR-2 lacks homologs of genes found in SSR-1 that encode secreted effector proteins known to facilitate the host cell cytoskeletal rearrangements necessary for bacterial entry and uptake into eukaryotic cells. Also, as a result of relaxed selection, SSR-2 has undergone inactivation of genes encoding components of the type-III secretion system needle substructure. |