Stable propagation of ‘selfish’ genetic elements

Velmurugan, Soundarapandian; Mehta, Shwetal; Uzri, Dina; Jayaram, Makkuni

doi:10.1007/bf02703338

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Putative parAB genes were identified upstream of the repA gene. It is known that ParAB proteins are involved in the mechanisms of stable inheritance of large, low-copy-number plasmids (Velmurugan et al 2003). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complete genome sequence of Pantoea ananatis AJ13355, an organism with great biotechnological potential

Hara

Kadotani

Izui

et al. 2011

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Pantoea ananatis AJ13355 is a newly identified member of the Enterobacteriaceae family with promising biotechnological applications. This bacterium is able to grow at an acidic pH and is resistant to saturating concentrations of L-glutamic acid, making this organism a suitable host for the production of L-glutamate. In the current study, the complete genomic sequence of P. ananatis AJ13355 was determined. The genome was found to consist of a single circular chromosome consisting of 4,555,536 bp [DDBJ: AP012032] and a circular plasmid, pEA320, of 321,744 bp [DDBJ: AP012033]. After automated annotation, 4,071 protein-coding sequences were identified in the P. ananatis AJ13355 genome. For 4,025 of these genes, functions were assigned based on homologies to known proteins. A high level of nucleotide sequence identity (99%) was revealed between the genome of P. ananatis AJ13355 and the previously published genome of P. ananatis LMG 20103. Short colinear regions, which are identical to DNA sequences in the Escherichia coli MG1655 chromosome, were found to be widely dispersed along the P. ananatis AJ13355 genome. Conjugal gene transfer from E. coli to P. ananatis, mediated by homologous recombination between short identical sequences, was also experimentally demonstrated. The determination of the genome sequence has paved the way for the directed metabolic engineering of P. ananatis to produce biotechnologically relevant compounds.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00253-011-3713-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complete genome sequence of Pantoea ananatis AJ13355, an organism with great biotechnological potential

Hara

Kadotani

Izui

et al. 2011

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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“…Thus, additional stability systems are required. They are toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems (Gerdes et al ., 2005; Diago‐Navarro et al ., 2010) and partition systems (Gerdes et al ., 2000; Velmurugan et al ., 2003). TA systems kill cells that have lost the plasmid.…”

Section: Genetic Organization Of Plasmidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of bacterial plasmids based on mobility and plasmid population biology

2011

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Plasmids contain a backbone of core genes that remains relatively stable for long evolutionary periods, making sense to speak about plasmid species. The identification and characterization of the core genes of a plasmid species has a special relevance in the study of its epidemiology and modes of transmission. Besides, this knowledge will help to unveil the main routes that genes, for example antibiotic resistance (AbR) genes, use to travel from environmental reservoirs to human pathogens. Global dissemination of multiple antibiotic resistances and virulence traits by plasmids is an increasing threat for the treatment of many bacterial infectious diseases. To follow the dissemination of virulence and AbR genes, we need to identify the causative plasmids and follow their path from reservoirs to pathogens. In this review, we discuss how the existing diversity in plasmid genetic structures gives rise to a large diversity in propagation strategies. We would like to propose that, using an identification methodology based on plasmid mobility types, we can follow the propagation routes of most plasmids in Gammaproteobacteria, as well as their cargo genes, in complex ecosystems. Once the dissemination routes are known, designing antidissemination drugs and testing their efficacy will become feasible. We discuss in this review how the existing diversity in plasmid genetic structures gives rise to a large diversity in propagation strategies. We would like to propose that, by using an identification methodology based on plasmid mobility types, we can follow the propagation routes of most plasmids in ?-proteobacteria, as well as their cargo genes, in complex ecosystems.

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“…Also, improper activity or impaired interactions of the kfrA product could cause higher segregation, as it plays an important role in IncP-1b plasmid stability (Jagura-Burdzy & Thomas, 1992; Adamczyk et al, 2006). Specific structural and physiological properties of the host cell may also influence partitioning, as the spatial distribution of plasmid copies in the cell could involve interactions with the components of the cell architecture (Gerdes et al, 2000;Gordon et al, 2004;Velmurugan et al, 2003). It is unclear at this point which host-plasmid interactions involved in plasmid replication and maintenance could be differentially influenced in different hosts so as to explain the observed variation in stable plasmid inheritance.…”

Section: Mechanisms Responsible For Overall Plasmid Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of a promiscuous plasmid in different hosts: no guarantee for a long-term relationship

et al. 2007

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Broad-host-range (BHR) IncP-1 plasmids have the ability to transfer between and replicate in nearly all species of the Alpha-, Beta-and Gammaproteobacteria, but surprisingly few data are available on the stability of these plasmids in strains within their host range. Moreover, even though molecular interactions between the bacterial host and its plasmid(s) exist, no systematic study to date has compared the stability of the same plasmid among different hosts. The goal of this study was to examine whether the stability characteristics of an IncP-1 plasmid can be variable between strains within the host range of the plasmid. Therefore, 19 strains within the Alpha-, Beta-or Gammaproteobacteria carrying the IncP-1b plasmid pB10 were serially propagated in non-selective medium and the fraction of segregants was monitored through replica-picking. Remarkably, a large variation in the stability of pB10 in different strains was found, even between strains within the same genus or species. Ten strains showed no detectable plasmid loss over about 200 generations, and in two strains plasmid-free clones were only sporadically observed. In contrast, three strains, Pseudomonas koreensis R28, Pseudomonas putida H2 and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia P21, exhibited rapid plasmid loss within 80 generations. Parameter estimation after mathematical modelling of these stability data suggested high frequencies of segregation (about 0.04 per generation) or high plasmid cost (i.e. a relative fitness decrease in plasmid-bearing cells of about 15 and 40 %), which was confirmed experimentally. The models also suggested that plasmid reuptake by conjugation only played a significant role in plasmid stability in one of the three strains. Four of the 19 strains lost the plasmid very slowly over about 600 generations. The erratic decrease of the plasmid-containing fraction and simulation of the data with a new mathematical model suggested that plasmid cost was variable over time due to compensatory mutations. The findings of this study demonstrate that the ability of a so-called 'BHR' plasmid to persist in a bacterial population is influenced by strain-specific traits, and therefore observations made for one strain should not be generalized for the entire species or genus. INTRODUCTIONComparative analyses of fully sequenced bacterial genomes suggest that horizontal gene transfer has played a significant role in the adaptive evolution of microbial life (Gogarten & Townsend, 2005;Gogarten et al., 2002;Jain et al., 2002). In particular, horizontal transfer (HT) of broad-host-range (BHR) antibiotic resistance plasmids through conjugation is important to the spread of drug resistance genes (de la Cruz & Davies, 2000;Frost et al., 2005;Mazel & Davies, 1999), as these plasmids can transfer between and replicate in a broad range of taxonomically diverse species. Besides conjugation and replication, stability in the absence of selection for plasmid-encoded traits is a third characteristic that should be considered in the assessment of the long-term host r...

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Stable propagation of ‘selfish’ genetic elements

Cited by 14 publications

References 64 publications

The complete genome sequence of Pantoea ananatis AJ13355, an organism with great biotechnological potential

The complete genome sequence of Pantoea ananatis AJ13355, an organism with great biotechnological potential

Identification of bacterial plasmids based on mobility and plasmid population biology

Stability of a promiscuous plasmid in different hosts: no guarantee for a long-term relationship

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