Super grateful to have worked on this with such a talented and fun group of people! It is a really cool evolutionary story and it feels like (at least part of) a bigger mystery was solved. ✨
@nancy-moran.bsky.socialA step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky
doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature
SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.