UNPRECEDENTED LOSS OF AMMONIA ASSIMILATION CAPABILITY IN A UREASE-ENCODING BACTERIAL MUTUALIST

Abstract Background Blochmannia are obligately intracellular bacterial mutualists of ants of the tribe Camponotini.Blochmannia perform key nutritional functions for the host, including synthesis of several essential amino acids.We used Illumina technology to sequence the genome of Blochmannia associated with Camponotus vafer.Results Although Blochm