BEV proteobacterium str. Berkeley genome sequencing. Candidatus Symbiopectobacterium sp. 'Berkeley'

Euscelidius variegatus leafhoppers infected with BEV have been reared on a mix of barley, rye and wheat grasses at UC Berkeley since 1984. A triple-cloned BEV isolate was axenically cultured from infected leafhoppers on Difco purple broth (PB) with 1.5?2.0% agar, acidified to pH 6.3 with 0.1 N HCl and incubated at 28°C in the dark. Colonies were collected and total genomic DNA was extracted using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit. BEV was originally identified and isolated from Euscelidius variegatus leafhoppers (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) in 1984. Even after two decades, it remains one of the few bacterial endosymbionts of insects than can be cultivated axenically. This is likely due to the recent age of its symbiosis with its insect host and as such it sheds light upon the initial consequences host associations have on bacterial genome evolution.