Photorhabdus luminescens
| Photorhabdus luminescens | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Bacteria |
| Division: | Proteobacteria |
| Class: | Gammaproteobacteria |
| Order: | Enterobacteriales |
| Family: | Enterobacteriaceae |
| Genus: | Photorhabdus |
| Species: | P. luminescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Photorhabdus luminescens |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Xenorhabdus luminescens |
|
Photorhabdus luminescens (previously called Xenorhabdus luminescens) is a Gammaproteobacteria, belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae, and is a lethal pathogen of insects.
It lives in the gut of an entomopathogenic nematode of the family Heterorhabditidae. When the nematode infects an insect, P. luminescens is released into the blood stream and rapidly kills the insect host (within 48 hours) by producing toxins, such as TcA.[1] It also secretes enzymes which break down the body of the infected insect and bioconvert it into nutrients which can be used by both nematode and bacteria. In this way, both organisms gain enough nutrients to replicate (or reproduce in the case of the nematode) several times. The bacteria enter the nematode progeny as they develop. P. luminescens also secretes antibiotics to protect against competition from other bacteria.
It has been suggested that the genes encoding for insecticidal toxins could be added to plants to make them resistant to insect herbivores, in a similar manner to those expressing Bt toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis.[2]
P. luminescens is bioluminescent; however, the purpose of this is not yet properly understood. It has been reported that infection by this bacterium of the wounds of soldiers in the American Civil War caused the wounds to glow, and that this aided the survival of the soldiers due to the production of antibiotics by P. luminescens.[3][4]
[edit] References
- ^ Blackburn MB, Domek JM, Gelman DB, Hu JS. 2005. Journal of Insect Science 5:32 The broadly insecticidal Photorhabdus luminescens toxin complex a (Tca): Activity against the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, and sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. 11pp.
- ^ Bowen, D.; Rocheleau, T. A.; Blackburn, M.; Andreev, O.; Golubeva, E.; Bhartia, R.; Ffrench-Constant, R. H. (1998). "Insecticidal Toxins from the Bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens". Science 280 (5372): 2129–2132. Bibcode 1998Sci...280.2129B. doi:10.1126/science.280.5372.2129. PMID 9641921.
- ^ Durham, Sharon (2001-05-29). "Students May Have Answer for Faster-Healing Civil War Wounds that Glowed". Agricultural Research Service. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2001/010529.htm.
- ^ Kwok, Roberta (21 January 2012). "New Scientist - 21 January 2012 -Driller Killer". New Scientist.
[edit] External links
- NCBI genome project Photorhabdus luminescens subsp. laumondii TTO1 project at Institut Pasteur
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