Efficient Gene Transfer in Bacterial Cell Chains
Name
Grossman_Efficient gene.pdf
Size
1.71 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Babic, Ana
Berkmen, Melanie
Lee, Catherine Ann
Grossman, Alan Davis
Date Issued
March 2011
Journal
mBio
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Citation
Babic, A. et al. “Efficient Gene Transfer in Bacterial Cell Chains.” mBio 2.2 (2011): e00027–11.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Horizontal gene transfer contributes to evolution and the acquisition of new traits. In bacteria, horizontal gene transfer is often mediated by conjugative genetic elements that transfer directly from cell to cell. Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs; also known as conjugative transposons) are mobile genetic elements that reside within a host genome but can excise to form a circle and transfer by conjugation to recipient cells. ICEs contribute to the spread of genes involved in pathogenesis, symbiosis, metabolism, and antibiotic resistance. Despite its importance, little is known about the mechanisms of conjugation in Gram-positive bacteria or how quickly or frequently transconjugants become donors. We visualized the transfer of the integrative and conjugative element ICEBs1 from a Bacillus subtilis donor to recipient cells in real time using fluorescence microscopy. We found that transfer of DNA from a donor to a recipient appeared to occur at a cell pole or along the lateral cell surface of either cell. Most importantly, we found that when acquired by 1 cell in a chain, ICEBs1 spread rapidly from cell to cell within the chain by additional sequential conjugation events. This intrachain conjugation is inherently more efficient than conjugation that is due to chance encounters between individual cells. Many bacterial species, including pathogenic, commensal, symbiotic, and nitrogen-fixing organisms, harbor ICEs and grow in chains, often as parts of microbial communities. It is likely that efficient intrachain spreading is a general feature of conjugative DNA transfer and serves to amplify the number of cells that acquire conjugative mobile genetic elements.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00027-11
