Cicadas rely on a complex, ancient symbiotic relationship with specialized, vertically transmitted bacteria to survive on a nutrient-poor diet of xylem sap.
Transmission and Location
Vertical Transmission: Both Sulcia and YLS are transmitted to offspring via ovaries, often forming a "symbiont ball" in each egg.
New Report Connects Covid Vaccine to Adverse Effect on Female Fertility
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Sulcia muelleri / Vidania
Extremely reduced bacterial genomes are found primarily in insect endosymbionts, reaching sizes below 150 kb, which is far smaller than the ~580 kb of Mycoplasma genitalium.
Smallest Known Bacterial Genomes (Endosymbionts)
These bacteria are often considered to be in the process of transitioning into organelle-like entities.
Sulcia muelleri / Vidania: Identified as having the smallest known bacterial genomes, acting as co-symbionts in planthoppers.
Candidatus Sulcia muelleri (Sulcia) and Candidatus Vidania (Vidania) are co-primary, ancient bacterial endosymbionts of planthoppers, co-diversifying for ~263 million years. They live within specialized bacteriome cells.
Metabolic Partnership: Sulcia and Vidania are highly specialized and often work together. Sulcia (Bacteroidetes) and Vidania (Betaproteobacterium) jointly produce essential nutrients that the host plant-sap diet lacks.
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Cicadas rely on a stable, ancient bacterial symbiont, Candidatus Sulcia muelleri, and a highly unstable, rapidly evolving alpha-proteobacterium, Candidatus Hodgkinia cicadicola, to supplement their nutrient-poor sap diet. Both exhibit extreme genome reduction, with Hodgkinia often splitting into complex, codependent, or degraded lineages.
Key Cicada Symbionts and Genome Degradation
Sulcia muelleri (Ancient): Conserved across almost all cicadas, providing essential amino acids with a highly stable, tiny genome.
Hodgkinia cicadicola (Unstable): Shows "idiosyncratic genome degradation," where it splits into multiple, often unstable, circular genomes (Magicicada species).
Yeast-Like Fungal Symbionts (YLS): In at least 15 Japanese cicada species, Hodgkinia has been completely replaced by these fungi.
Characteristics of Extreme Reduction
Co-dependence: Hodgkinia and Sulcia complement each other's metabolic pathways.
Lineage Splitting: Hodgkinia can break into distinct, codependent, or sometimes nonfunctional cell lineages.
Massive Reduction: Some Sulcia strains have reduced so small and losing genes for essential amino acid synthesis.
Replacement: Fungal symbionts (YLS) have emerged in various species to replace missing Hodgkinia
Lineage Splitting: Hodgkinia lineages can split into distinct genomic and cellular lineages within a single host, leading to complex, inter-dependent systems.
Genome Instability: Hodgkinia genomes often fragment into small, highly divergent circles, suggesting they are at the edge of extinction.
Co-dependence: Hodgkinia relies on the host cicada and a second, more stable symbiont, Sulcia.
Replacement by Fungi: In some cicada species, Hodgkinia has been completely lost and replaced by fungal symbionts, a process linked to its severe genome degradation.
Yeast-Like Fungal Symbionts (YLS) in cicadas are primarily associated with Hodgkinia-free species, where they reside in the fat bodies and are believed to have evolved from entomopathogenic fungi of the genus Ophiocordyceps.
Transmission: YLS are vertically transmitted via the ovaries, often forming a "symbiont ball" in the oocytes alongside Sulcia.
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Cicada Symbionts
Sulcia Bacteroidetes
Ophiocordyceps
Yeast-Like Fungal Symbionts (YLS)
Extreme Genome Reduction
Symbiogenesis
Plastid (Plant)
Plasmid (Bacteria)
Some filamentous fungi do possess natural plasmids, generally in their mitochondria.
Plasmid Use in Research: While natural plasmids are not listed as key features, researchers use artificial, engineered plasmids (such as pBHt2-OsPEF1α-GFP) for genetic transformation studies in Ophiocordyceps sinensis.
Hodgkinia (Unstable)
the essential amino acids histidine and methionine.
Yeast-Like Fungal Symbionts (YLS) from the genus Ophiocordyceps, are known to synthesize essential amino acids histidine and methionine, often replacing the roles formerly filled by bacterial endosymbionts like Hodgkinia.
A specific R264H mutation in the MAT1A gene causes autosomal dominant hypermethioninemia, where arginine is replaced by histidine. This substitution impairs catalytic activity, causing elevated methionine levels. Other mutations can cause hypermethioninemia, a condition characterized by high levels of this amino acid.
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Why Insect Cells are Used for Vaccine Production:
Protein Folding and Functionality: Unlike bacteria, insect cells are eukaryotic, meaning they properly fold complex, large proteins—like the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein trimer—and perform essential post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as glycosylation.
Technological Process:
The spike protein gene is inserted into a baculovirus, which then infects the moth cell line, instructing it to produce large amounts of the spike protein. The protein is then harvested, purified, and formulated with an adjuvant to enhance the immune response.
Application in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines:
Novavax (NVX-CoV2373): This authorized vaccine uses insect cells to produce the full-length, prefusion-stabilized spike protein, which self-assembles into nanoparticle structures, enhancing immune response.
Sanofi/GSK (VidPrevtyn Beta): This vaccine is based on a recombinant spike protein produced using an insect cell-baculovirus system.
WestVac Biopharma (Convince): A vaccine utilizing insect cells to produce the Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domain (S-RBD).
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Insect Cell Lines
Biotechnology Vaccines
Spike Protein Folding
Self Assemble
Nanoparticle Structures
Baculovirus
Recombinant Proteins
System Receptor
Binding Domain
Post-translational Modifications
Glycosyltransferases
Glycosylation
Phosphorylation
Acylation
Oligomannose
Influenza Matrix
Ferritin
Human-like Sialylated
N-Glycans
Glycoengineering
Apoptosis Control
Anti Apoptotic Genes
Gene Silencing
Gene Transfer
RNA Interference (RNAi)
Viruses-like Particles (VLPs)
Polyhedrin Promoter
Lepidoptera
Lepidopteran Cells
Baculoviral Polh Locus
Heterologous Protein
Autographa Californica Multiple Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (AcMNPV)
Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS)
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cant find anything regarding Cicadas directly, but apparently they use Moths to make spike protein.
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Biotechnology Vaccine Yeast-Like Fungal Symbiont (YLS) Insect Cell Lines Spike Protein Folding
Comparing Expression Platforms
Insect Cells: Better at handling complex, large proteins with extensive post-translational modifications compared to bacteria, often providing better folding for viral spike proteins.
Yeast Systems: Offer lower production costs and faster growth cycles than insect cells but may have limitations in complex protein folding compared to eukaryotic insect cell systems.
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Immortalized Insect Cell Lines (IICL)
Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS)
Yeast-Like Symbionts (YLS)
Immortalized insect cell lines are permanently established cell cultures derived from various insect tissues that divide indefinitely, providing a cost-effective, consistent, and unlimited supply of material for research, bypassing the need for live insects. Primarily used in virology, baculovirus expression vector systems (BEVS), and protein production.
Biotechnology vaccine platforms often use moth insect cell lines combined with the Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) to produce recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins. These insect cells allow for precise folding and post-translational modifications (glycosylation) of the spike protein, similar to human cells.
Spike Protein Folding and Assembly: Insect cells are highly efficient at producing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in its correct prefusion trimer structure. To ensure it remains in this shape, researchers use a stabilized S-2P protein, which features two proline substitutions that prevent the spike from changing shape, making it a more effective vaccine antigen.
Post-translational Modifications: While insect cells provide complex glycosylation (adding sugar chains), the glycan processing is slightly different from mammalian cells, producing smaller "paucimannose" glycans.
Production Process: The DNA encoding the spike protein is inserted into a baculovirus, which then infects the moth insect cells, leading them to manufacture high quantities of the protein.
RE: Intercellular Homeostasis