Symbiotic bacteria in planthoppers break record for smallest non-organelle genome ever found

Many insects rely on heritable bacterial endosymbionts for essential nutrients that they cannot get through their diet. A new study, published in Nature Communications, indicates that the genomes of these symbiotic bacteria often shrink over time. Some of these bacteria, which live inside certain insect cells, have lost so many genes that they have broken the record for the tiniest genome ever found—almost blurring the lines between organelle and bacteria.