Candidatus Carsonella ruddii

Candidatus Carsonella ruddii is a bacterium which has smallest Génome characterized to date. The circular genome consists of only 159662 even bases coding 182 Protéine S. As comparison, the small genome of the bacterium parasitizes Mycoplasma genitalium consists of 580000 pairs of bases, that of Escherichia coli , between 4600000 and 5000000 pairs of bases.

This bacterium lives in Endosymbiose in the cells of an insect, the Psyllide. The presence of the bacterium is essential to the cellular life. It divides in the cells of its host, but is propagated between individuals only by vertical transmission (of a relative to its descent). Carsonella ruddii could thus be transforming itself into cellular organoid.

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