Recombination and gene loss occur simultaneously during bacterial horizontal gene transfer

Ely, Bert

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227987

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(27 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, HGT provides a driving force for bacterial evolution, increasing bacterial survival, adjustment rate in the harshest environments, and pathogenicity [2][3][4]. Current knowledge of HGT is based on three widely described mechanisms for the exchange of genetic material between bacteria: transformation, conjugation and transduction [5][6][7]. Transformation involves the natural uptake of naked DNA from an extracellular environment; this phenomenon occurs when cells are in a physiological state of competence, regulated by 20-50 proteins [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae Are a Driving Force for Horizontal Gene Transfer

Dell’Annunziata

Dell’Aversana

Doti

et al. 2021

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gram-negative bacteria release Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs) into the extracellular environment. Recent studies recognized these vesicles as vectors to horizontal gene transfer; however, the parameters that mediate OMVs transfer within bacterial communities remain unclear. The present study highlights for the first time the transfer of plasmids containing resistance genes via OMVs derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae). This mechanism confers DNA protection, it is plasmid copy number dependent with a ratio of 3.6 times among high copy number plasmid (pGR) versus low copy number plasmid (PRM), and the transformation efficiency was 3.6 times greater. Therefore, the DNA amount in the vesicular lumen and the efficacy of horizontal gene transfer was strictly dependent on the identity of the plasmid. Moreover, the role of K. pneumoniae-OMVs in interspecies transfer was described. The transfer ability was not related to the phylogenetic characteristics between the donor and the recipient species. K. pneumoniae-OMVs transferred plasmid to Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia. These findings address the pivotal role of K. pneumoniae-OMVs as vectors for antimicrobial resistance genes spread, contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in the microbial communities.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae Are a Driving Force for Horizontal Gene Transfer

Dell’Annunziata

Dell’Aversana

Doti

et al. 2021

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, biased gene conversion could only occur during relatively rare recombination events [19] while eukaryotic recombination occurs multiple times during every round of meiosis. Furthermore, we have shown that biased gene conversion did not occur during more than 100 distinct recombination events analyzed in the high GC genomes of C. vibrioides [25]. Thus, biased gene conversion does not appear to occur during recombination events in the high GC genomes of this bacterial species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Furthermore, we have shown that biased gene conversion did not occur during more than 100 distinct recombination events analyzed in the high GC genomes of C . vibrioides [ 25 ]. Thus, biased gene conversion does not appear to occur during recombination events in the high GC genomes of this bacterial species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic GC content drifts downward in most bacterial genomes

Ely

2021

PLoS ONE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In every kingdom of life, GC->AT transitions occur more frequently than any other type of mutation due to the spontaneous deamination of cytidine. In eukaryotic genomes, this slow loss of GC base pairs is counteracted by biased gene conversion which increases genomic GC content as part of the recombination process. However, this type of biased gene conversion has not been observed in bacterial genomes, so we hypothesized that GC->AT transitions cause a reduction of genomic GC content in prokaryotic genomes on an evolutionary time scale. To test this hypothesis, we used a phylogenetic approach to analyze triplets of closely related genomes representing a wide range of the bacterial kingdom. The resulting data indicate that genomic GC content is drifting downward in bacterial genomes where GC base pairs comprise 40% or more of the total genome. In contrast, genomes containing less than 40% GC base pairs have fewer opportunities for GC->AT transitions to occur so genomic GC content is relatively stable or actually increasing. It should be noted that this observed change in genomic GC content is the net change in shared parts of the genome and does not apply to parts of the genome that have been lost or acquired since the genomes being compared shared common ancestor. However, a more detailed analysis of two Caulobacter genomes revealed that the acquisition of mobile elements by the two genomes actually reduced the total genomic GC content as well.

show abstract

“…However, biased gene conversion could only occur during relatively rare recombination events [11] while eukaryotic recombination occurs multiple times during every round of meiosis. Furthermore, we have shown that biased gene conversion did not occur during more than 100 distinct recombination events analyzed in the high GC genomes of C. vibrioides [15]. Thus, biased gene conversion does not appear to occur during recombination events in the high GC genomes of this bacterial species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Genomic GC content drifts slowly downward in most bacterial genomes

Ely

2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In every kingdom of life, GC->AT transitions are the predominant type of mutation that accumulates over evolutionary time periods. In eukaryotic genomes, this slow loss of GC base pairs is counteracted by biased gene conversion which increases genomic GC content as part of the recombination process. However, this type of biased gene conversion has not been observed in bacterial genomes so we hypothesized that GC->AT transitions cause a reduction of genomic GC content in prokaryotic genomes. To test this hypothesis, we used a phylogenetic approach to analyze triplets of closely related genomes representing a wide range of the bacterial kingdom. The resulting data indicate that genomic GC content is slowly declining in bacterial genomes where GC base pairs comprise 40% or more of the total genome. In contrast, genomes containing less than 40% GC base pairs have fewer opportunities for GC->AT transitions to occur so genomic GC content is relatively stable or actually increasing at a slow rate.

show abstract

Recombination and gene loss occur simultaneously during bacterial horizontal gene transfer

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae Are a Driving Force for Horizontal Gene Transfer

Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae Are a Driving Force for Horizontal Gene Transfer

Genomic GC content drifts downward in most bacterial genomes

Genomic GC content drifts slowly downward in most bacterial genomes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About