Arsenophonus comparative genomics

We compared the genomes of several Arsenophonus strains with different life histories, ranging from environmentally acquired to facultative and obligate insect endosymbionts. To this end, we first completed the genomes of seven new Arsenophonus strains: three Arsenophonus nasoniae from Nasonia vitripennis, two strains from the parasitic wasps Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae and Ixodiphagus hookeri, one strain from the blue butterfly Polyommatus bellargus, and one strain of Arsenophonus apicola isolated from Australian Apis mellifera. We also completed a draft genome for Ca. A. triatominarum. In addition, new draft genomes were assembled for a further 17 Arsenophonus strains from Sequence Read Archive (SRA) deposits from a variety of insect genome sequencing projects.