Conjugative transposons: The tip of the iceberg

Molecular Microbiology

Volumn 46, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 601-610

  Burrus, Vincent ^a,b   Pavlovic, Guillaume ^a   Decaris, Bernard ^a   Guédon, Gérard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ DE LORRAINE   (France)

^b TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BACTERIUM; BACTERIUM PILUS; CELL ADHESION; CELL AGGREGATION; CONJUGATION; DNA TRANSFER; EXCISION; GENE REPLICATION; GENETIC RECOMBINATION; GENOME; INTEGRATION; NOMENCLATURE; NONHUMAN; PLASMID; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROPHAGE; SHORT SURVEY; TRANSPOSON;

BACTERIA; CONJUGATION, GENETIC; DNA TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS; INTEGRASES; RECOMBINATION, GENETIC;

BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS); TRANSPOSONS;

EID: 0036439064     PISSN: 0950382X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2002.03191.x     Document Type: Short Survey

References (58)

1. Anderson, D.G., and McKay, L.L. (1984) Genetic and physical characterization of recombinant plasmids associated with cell aggregation and high-frequency conjugal transfer in Streptococcus lactis ML3. J Bacteriol 158: 954-962.
2. Argos, P., Landy, A., Abremski, K., Egan, J.B., Haggard-Ljungquist, E., Hoess, R.H., et al. (1986) The integrase family of site-specific recombinases: Regional similarities and global diversity. EMBO J 5: 433-440.
3. Beaber, J.W., Hocchut, B., and Waldor, M.K. (2002) Genomic and functional analyses of SXT, an integrating antibiotic resistance gene transfer element derived from Vibrio cholerae. J Bacteriol 184: 4259-4269.
4. Bentley, S.D., Chater, K.F., Cerdeno-Tarraga, A.M., Challis, G.L., Thomson, N.R., James, K.D.,et al. (2002) Complete genome sequence of the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). Nature 417: 141-147.
5. Brown, D.P., Idler, K.B., Backer, D.M., Donadio, S., and Katz, L. (1994) Characterization of the genes and attachment sites for site-specific integration of plasmid pSE101 in Saccharopolyspora erythraea and Streptomyces lividans. Mol Gen Genet 242: 185-193.
6. Burrus, V., Roussel, Y., Decaris, B., and Guédon, G. (2000) Characterization of a novel integrative element, ICESt1, in the lactic acid bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus. Appl Environ Microbiol 66: 1749-1753.
7. Burrus, V., Bontemps, C., Decaris, B., and Guédon, G. (2001) Characterization of a novel type II restriction-modification system, Sth368I, encoded by the integrative element ICESt1 of Streptococcus thermophilus CNRZ368. Appl Environ Microbiol 67: 1522-1528.
8. Burrus, V., Pavlovic, G., Decaris, B., and Guédon, G. (2002) The ICESt1 element of Streptococcus thermophilus belongs to a large family of integrative and conjugative elements that exchange modules and change their specificity of integration. Plasmid 48: 77-97.
9. Celli, J., and Trieu-Cuot, P. (1998) Circularization of Tn916 is required for expression of the transposon-encoded transfer functions: Characterization of long tetracycline-inducible transcripts reading through the attachment site. Mol Microbiol 28: 103-117.
10. Cheng, Q., Sutanto, Y., Shoemaker, N.B., Gardner, J.F., and Salyers, A.A. (2001) Identification of genes required for excision of CTnDOT, a Bacteroides conjugative transposon. Mol Microbiol 41: 625-632.
11. Churchward, G. (2002) Conjugative transposons and related mobile elements. In Mobile DNA II. Craig, N.L., Craigie, R., Gellert, M., and Lambowitz, M.L. (eds). Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology Press, pp. 177-191.
12. Clewell, D.B. (1993) Sex pheromones and the plasmid-encoded mating response in Enterococcus faecalis. In Bacterial Conjugation. Clewell, D.B. (ed.). New York: Plenum Press, pp. 349-367.
13. Clewell, D.B., and Flannagan, F.E. (1993) The conjugative transposons of Gram-positive bacteria. In Bacterial Conjugation. Clewell, D.B. (ed.). New York: Plenum Press, pp. 369-388.
14. Clewell, D.B., Flannagan, S.R., and Jaworski, D.D. (1995) Unconstrained bacterial promiscuity: The Tn916-Tn1545 family of conjugative transposons. Trends Microbiol 3: 229-236.
15. Garnier, F., Taourit, S., Glaser, P., Courvalin, P., and Galimand, M. (2000) Characterization of transposon Tn1549, conferring VanB-type resistance inEnterococcus spp. Microbiology 146: 1481-1489.
16. Gasson, M.J., Swindell, S., Maeda, S., and Dodd, H.M. (1992) Molecular rearrangement of lactose plasmid DNA associated with high-frequency transfer and cell aggregation in Lactococcus lactis 712. Mol Microbiol 6: 3213-3223.
17. Gasson, M.J., Godon, J.J., Pillidge, C.J., Eaton, T.J., Jury, K., and Shearman, C.A. (1995) Characterization and exploitation of conjugation in Lactococcus lactis. Int Dairy J 5: 757-762.
18. Godon, J.J., Jury, K., Shearman, C.A., and Gasson, M.J. (1994) The Lactococcus lactis sex-factor aggregation gene cluA. Mol Microbiol 12: 655-663.
19. Hagège, J., Boccard, F., Smokvina, T., Pernodet, J.-L., Friedmann, A., and Guérineau, M. (1994) Identification of a gene encoding the replication initiator protein of the Streptomyces integrating element, pSAM2. Plasmid 31: 166-183.
20. Hentschel, U., and Hacker, J. (2001) Pathogenicity islands: The tip of the iceberg. Microbes Infect 3: 545-548.
21. Hochhut, B., and Waldor, M.K. (1999) Site-specific integration of the conjugal Vibrio cholerae SXT element into prfC. Mol Microbiol 32: 99-110.
22. Hochhut, B., Jahreis, K., Lengeler, J.W., and Schmid, K. (1997) CTnscr94, a conjugative transposon found in enterobacteria. J Bacteriol 179: 2097-2102.
23. Hochhut, B., Beaber, J.W., Woodgate, R., and Waldor, M.K. (2001a) Formation of chromosomal tandem arrays of SXT element and R391, two conjugative chromosomally integrating elements that share an attachment site. J Bacteriol 183: 1124-1132.
24. Hochhut, B., Lotfi, Y., Mazel, D., Faruque, S.M., Woodgate, R., and Waldor, M.K. (2001b) Molecular analysis of antibiotic resistance gene clusters in Vibrio cholerae O139 and O1 SXT constins. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 45: 2991-3000.
25. Hopwood, D.A., and Kieser, T. (1993) Conjugative plasmids of Streptomyces. In Bacterial Conjugation. Clewell, D.B. (ed.). New York: Plenum Press, pp. 293-311.
26. Immonen, T., Wahlström, G., Takala, T., and Saris, P.E.J. (1998) Evidence for a mosaic structure of the Tn5481 in Lactococcus lactis N8. DNA Seq 9: 245-261.
27. Jaworski, D.D., and Clewell, D.B. (1995) A functional origin of transfer (oriT) on the conjugative transposon Tn916. J Bacteriol 177: 6644-6651.
28. Kuroda, M., Ohta, T., Uchiyama, I., Baba, T., Yuzawa, H., Kobayashi, I.,et al. (2001) Whole genome sequencing of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Lancet 357: 1225-1240.
29. Lanka, E., and Wilkins, B.M. (1995) DNA processing reactions in bacterial conjugation. Annu Rev Biochem 64: 141-169.
30. Li, L.-Y., Shoemaker, N.B., and Salyers, A.A. (1995) Location and characteristics of the transfer region of a Bacteroides conjugative transposon and regulation of transfer genes. J Bacteriol 177: 4992-4999.
31. Llosa, M., Gomis-Ruth, F.X., Coll, M., and Cruz Fd Fde, L. (2002) Bacterial conjugation: A two-step mechanism for DNA transport. Mol Microbiol 45: 1-8.
32. Merlin, C., Mahillon, J., Nesvera, J., and Toussaint, A. (2000) Gene recruiters and transporters: The modular structure of bacterial elements. In The Horizontal Gene Pool: Bacterial Plasmids and Gene Spread. Thomas, C.M. (ed.). Newark: Hardwood Academic Publishers, pp. 363-408.
33. Mills, D.A., Phister, T.G., Dunny, G.M., and McKay, L.L. (1998) An origin of transfer (oriT) on the conjugative element pRS01 from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis ML3. Appl Environ Microbiol 64: 1541-1544.
34. Murphy, D.B., and Pembroke, J.T. (1999) Monitoring of chromosomal insertions of the IncJ elements R391 and R997 in Escherichia coli K-12. FEMS Microbiol Lett 174: 355-361.
35. Nishi, A., Tominaga, K., and Furukawa, K. (2000) A 90-kilobase conjugative chromosomal element coding for biphenyl and salicylate catabolism in Pseudomonas putida KF715. J Bacteriol 182: 1949-1955.
36. Pembroke, J.T., and Murphy, D.B. (2000) Isolation and analysis of a circular form of the IncJ conjugative transposon-like elements, R391 and R997: Implications for IncJ incompatibility. FEMS Microbiol Lett 187: 133-138.
37. Pernodet, J.-L., Simonet, J.-M., and Guérineau, M. (1984) Plasmids in different strains of Streptomyces ambofaciens: Free and integrated form of plasmid pSAM2. Mol Gen Genet 198: 35-41.
38. Possoz, C., Ribard, C., Gagnat, J., Pernodet, J.L., and Guerineau, M. (2001) The integrative element pSAM2 from Streptomyces: Kinetics and mode of conjugal transfer. Mol Microbiol 42: 159-166.
39. Rauch, P.J.G., and de Vos, W.M. (1992) Characterization of the novel nisin-sucrose conjugative transposon Tn5276 and its insertion in Lactococcus lactis. J Bacteriol 174: 1280-1287.
40. Ravatn, R., Studer, S., Springael, D., Zehnder, A.J.B., and Van der Meer, J.R. (1998a) Chromosomal integration, tandem amplification, and deamplification in Pseudomonas putida F1 of a 105-kilobase genetic element containing the chlorocathecol degradative genes from Pseudomonas sp. strain B13. J Bacteriol 180: 4360-4369.
41. Ravatn, R., Studer, S., Zehnder, A.J.B., and Van der Meer, J.R. (1998b) Int-B13, an unusual site-specific recombinase of the bacteriophage P4 integrase family, is responsible for chromosomal insertion of the 105-kb clc element of Pseudomonas sp. strain B13. J Bacteriol 180: 5505-5514.
42. Raynal, A., Tuphile, K., Gerbaud, C., Luther, T., Guerineau, M., and Pernodet, J.L. (1998) Structure of the chromosomal insertion site for pSAM2: Functional analysis in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 28: 333-342.
43. Roberts, A.P., Johanesen, P.A., Lyras, D., Mullany, P., and Rood, J.I. (2001) Comparison of Tn5397 from Clostridium difficile, Tn916 from Enterococcus faecalis and the CW459tet (M) element from Clostridium perfringens shows that they have similar conjugation regions but different insertion and excision modules. Microbiology 147: 1243-1251.
44. Salyers, A.A., Shoemaker, N.B., Stevens, A.M., and Li, L.Y. (1995a) Conjugative transposons: An unusual and diverse set of integrated gene transfer elements. Microbiol Rev 59: 579-590.
45. Salyers, A.A., Shoemaker, N.B., and Li, L.Y. (1995b) In the driver's seat: The Bacteroides conjugative transposons and the elements they mobilize. J Bacteriol 177: 5727-5731.
46. Scott, J.R., and Churchward, G.G. (1995) Conjugative transposition. Annu Rev Microbiol 49: 367-397.
47. Sezonov, G., Hagège, J., Pernodet, J.-L., Friedmann, A., and Guérineau, M. (1995) Characterization of pra, a gene for replication control in pSAM2, the integrating element of Streptomyces ambofaciens. Mol Microbiol 17: 533-544.
48. Silverman, P.M. (1997) Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation. Mol Microbiol 23: 423-429.
49. Smith, C.J., Tribble, G.D., and Bayley, D.P. (1998) Genetic elements of Bacteroides species: A moving story. Plasmid 40: 12-29.
50. Smith, M.C., and Thorpe, H.M. (2002) Diversity in the serine recombinases. Mol Microbiol 44: 299-307.
51. Smokvina, T., Boccard, F., Pernodet, J.-L., Friedmann, A., and Guérineau, M. (1991) Functional analysis of the Streptomyces ambofaciens element pSAM2. Plasmid 25: 40-52.
52. Srinivas, P., Kilic, A.O., and Vijayakumar, M.N. (1997) Site-specific nicking in vitro at oriT by the DNA relaxase of Tn5252. Plasmid 37: 42-50.
53. Sullivan, J.T., Trzebiatowski, J.R., Cruickshank, R.W., Gouzy, J., Brown, S.D., Elliot, R.M., et al. (2002) Comparative sequence analysis of the symbiosis island of Mesorhizobium loti strain R7A. J Bacteriol 184: 3086-3095.
54. Toussaint, A., and Merlin, C. (2002) Mobile elements as a combination of functional modules. Plasmid 47: 26-35.
55. Vijayakumar, M.N., and Ayalew, S. (1993) Nucleotide sequence analysis of the termini and chromosomal locus involved in site-specific integration of the streptococcal conjugative transposon Tn5252. J Bacteriol 175: 2713-2719.
56. Wang, H., Roberts, A.P., and Mullany, P. (2000a) DNA sequence of the insertional hot spot of Tn916 in the Clostridium difficile genome and discovery of a Tn916-like element in an environmental isolate integrated in the same hot spot. FEMS Microbiol Lett 192: 15-20.
57. Wang, H., Roberts, A.P., Lyras, D., Rood, J.I., Wilks, M., and Mullany, P. (2000b) Characterization of the ends and target sites of the novel conjugative transposon Tn5397 from Clostridium difficile: Excision and circularization is mediated by the large resolvase TndX. J Bacteriol 182: 3775-3783.
58. Whittle, G., Hund, B.D., Shoemaker, N.B., and Salyers, A.A. (2001) Characterization of the 13-kilobase ermF region of the Bacteroides conjugative transposon CTnDOT. Appl Environ Microbiol 67: 3488-3495.