CAREER: The Origins of Genome Complexity in an Insect-bacteria Endosymbiosis

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All plant and animal cells contain mitochondria, the specialized structures that generate a cell's chemical energy. However, mitochondria are not just any cellular component; they are the result of an ancient bacterial infection. They essentially are bacteria that permanently live in our cells; they have become part of us. Until just a few years ago, it was thought that the mitochondrion (and its partner structure in plants, the chloroplast) was unique in biology. Recent work has shown that many mitochondrion-like relationships exist in biology. Insects in particular have repeatedly developed relationships with bacteria that have taken up permanent residence in their cells. These bacteria show many similarities to mitochondria, particularly in reference to genome structure. The goal of this project is to use recent discoveries about the bacteria that live inside cicadas as a window into the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts and how they integrate with the cells in which they are found. . The work described in this project will use cutting-edge genomic experiments to accomplish these goals. This work is computationally intensive, and as such the educational component of this research will focus on teaching computer programming and its applications to Montana students at all levels. This work will have the important outcome of increasing the competitiveness of Montana students by giving them the computational tools they need to handle diverse, complex, and large sets of data. Mitochondria originated only once in the history of life, a very long time ago, and the details of their evolution remain obscure. Research into the mitochondria of diverse plants, animals, and single-celled organisms has revealed striking diversity in mitochondrial genome structure and size. Insects acquired bacterial endosymbionts much more recently than the origin of mitochondria, and so many of the features associated with the origin and establishment of the mitochondria are seen in insect endosymbionts but are less evolved. Recent work has shown that, like mitochondria, some insect endosymbionts have undergone extensive genome fragmentation and expansion. This research will use genome sequencing, transcriptome sequencing, molecular evolution, and field biology to provide insight into why some endosymbiotic genomes stay stable, while others diversify. This project includes activities that will teach University of Montana undergraduates and graduate students the fundamentals of computer programming using genomic data. The proposal will bring together students of biology that lack any computational background with students from the graphical arts for whom data visualization techniques are routine into a single course. These students will work collaboratively with each other to create new ways of visualizing massive genome data.