整合性接合元件SXT-R391分子生物学特性及其转移系统的研究进展

整合性接合元件(Integrative and conjugative elements,ICEs)主要介导原核生物间遗传信息的横向基因交换,在细菌毒性、耐药性、抗重金属等特性传播上发挥关键作用。ICEs的水平转移极大地加速了抗性基因在同种及不同种属之间的传播,造成细菌的耐药以至多重耐药问题日益严重,耐药机制日趋复杂;同时ICEs的接合转移过程受细菌Ⅳ型分泌系统(Type Ⅳ secretion system,T4SS)影响。本文着重从ICEs的基因结构、接合转移过程以及T4SS组成元件的结构进行概述,并对T4SS各组件间相互作用的研究进展进行了初步探讨。     

奇异变形杆菌中基因岛介导的多重耐药传播研究进展

奇异变形杆菌是导致医院内感染的重要条件致病菌,广泛分布于自然环境及人和动物的肠道中。基因岛是细菌染色体上约10-200 kb独立的DNA片段,能促进宿主细菌适应复杂多变的环境,与细菌适应性进化密切相关。近年来在奇异变形杆菌基因组中发现了多个与多重耐药密切相关的基因岛,包括沙门菌基因岛1及其相关基因岛、SXT/R391整合性接合元件、PmGRI1等,表明基因岛在奇异变形杆菌多重耐药形成和传播中具有重要作用。本文对奇异变形杆菌中与耐药相关基因岛的结构特征、传播机制、流行情况等进行综述,以期为奇异变形杆菌中多重耐药相关基因岛的深入研究提供参考。     

整合子基因盒系统及β-内酰胺酶介导的细菌耐药

整合子是一个能捕获并整合细胞外游离基因盒,并可使之转化为功能性基因的新型DNA元件。这种可移动的基因元件通过水平基因转移的方式极大地加速了抗性基因在同种及不同种属之间的传播,造成细菌的耐药以至多重耐药问题日益严重,耐药机制日趋复杂。尤其对临床上使用较多的头孢菌素类、青霉素类等β-内酰胺类抗生素的耐药,已给人类健康造成巨大威胁,急需阐明其复杂的耐药机制。     

细菌遗传元件水平转移与抗生素抗性研究进展*

细菌可移动遗传元件包括噬菌体、质粒、转座子、插入序列、整合子、基因组岛(genomic island and genomic islet)等,其中接合性质粒、转座子、整合子及基因组岛等是与抗生素抗性有关的元件,可以在同种甚至于不同种菌株间水平转移,加速了临床上耐药及多重耐药菌株的产生。综述了细菌与抗生素抗性有关的可移动遗传元件的种类、特征及转移机制的研究进展。     

细菌遗传元件水平转移与抗生素抗性研究进展

细菌可移动遗传元件包括噬菌体、质粒、转座子、插入序列、整合子、基因组岛（genomic island and genomic islet）等,其中接合性质粒、转座子、整合子及基因组岛等是与抗生素抗性有关的元件,可以在向种甚至于不同种菌株间水平转移,加速了临床上耐药及多重耐药菌株的产生。综述了细菌与抗生素抗性有关的可移动遗传元件的种类、特征及转移机制的研究进展。     

多耐药肺炎克雷伯菌获得性耐药基因检测及指标聚类分析

目的调查多耐药肺炎克雷伯菌中65种获得性耐药基因和7种可移动遗传元件遗传标记基因的存在状况,以及获得性耐药基因和可移动遗传元件遗传标记基因的相关性。方法收集绍兴地区六家医院分离的肺炎克雷伯菌共20株,采用PCR的方法分析65种β-内酰胺类、氨基糖苷类、喹诺酮类获得性耐药基因和7种转座子、插入序列、接合性质粒遗传标记基因,并用指标聚类分析(SPSS法)分析β-内酰胺类、氨基糖苷类和喹诺酮类获得性耐药基因与整合子、转座子、插入序列、接合性质粒遗传标记基因的相关性。结果 20株肺炎克雷伯菌共检测到14种获得性耐药基因(包括6种β-酰胺类获得性耐药基因、6种氨基糖苷类获得性耐药基因、2种喹诺酮类获得性耐药基因)和6种可移动遗传元件遗传标记基因(包括1种整合子遗传标记基因、3种转座子和插入序列基因遗传标记基因、2种接合性质粒遗传标记基因),其余52种基因均未检测到。SPSS法将上述阳性检出基因分成两大簇群。结论绍兴地区六家医院的多耐药肺炎克雷伯菌菌株对抗菌药物的耐药表型与获得性耐药基因相关,且可移动遗传元件的水平转移使细菌的耐药性在同种细菌菌株之间甚至不同种细菌菌株之间得以快速传播。获得性耐药基因与可移动遗传元件遗传标记基因的指标聚类分析显示:OXA-1、aac(6’)-Ⅰb、qnrB、IMP、aadA5、VEB、KPC、qnrS等基因与接合性质粒遗传标记traA相关,提示这些基因在F接合性质粒上;DHA、aph(3′)-Ⅰ等基因与转座子遗传标记tnpU、tnp513相关,提示它们位于转座子上;TEM-1、aac(3)-Ⅱ、qacE△1与接合性质粒遗传标记trbC相关,提示TEM-1、aac(3)-Ⅱ等基因和Ⅰ类整合子可能位于宽范围接合性质粒上;ant(3″)-Ⅰ、rmtB等基因与ISEcp1较为相关,提示这些基因位于插入序列上。     

细菌中基因组岛的转移与调控机制研究进展

基因水平转移可导致细菌不同种属间个体DNA的交换,从而使细菌对环境的适应性增强,是细菌进化的重要途径之一。基因组岛是基因水平转移的重要载体,可移动的基因组岛能够整合到宿主的染色体上,并在特定的条件下切除,进而通过转化、接合或转导等方式转移到新的宿主中。基因组岛具有多种生物学功能,如抗生素抗性、致病性、异源物质降解、重金属抗性等。基因组岛的转移造成可变基因在不同种属细菌间的广泛传播,例如毒力和耐药基因的传播导致了多重耐药细菌的产生,威胁人类健康。基因组岛由整合酶介导转移,同时在转移的过程受到多种不同转录因子的调控。本文对细菌中基因组岛的结构特点、转移和调控机制以及预测等方面进行了综述,并最终阐明基因组岛的转移及其调控机制是遏制基因组岛传播的重要策略。     

超嗜热古菌整合性遗传元件的研究进展

细菌中整合性遗传元件与DNA修饰和防御、毒力因子传播以及次级代谢等生理功能存在关联,而相关研究在超嗜热古菌中尚处于起步阶段。本文综述了超嗜热古菌中整合性病毒、质粒及基因组岛等整合性遗传元件的分类、整合及维持机制。展示了整合性遗传元件参与的水平基因转移过程在超嗜热古菌基因组演化中扮演的重要角色。整合性遗传元件相关功能基因组学研究为理解超嗜热古菌的多样性及其环境适应性机制提供了新的视角。     

细菌固有耐药的研究进展

人们以往大多只关注由敏感细菌通过基因水平转移和自发突变方式获得的耐药性,而忽略了细菌对某类抗生素天然耐药的重要特性,细菌的这种特性又被称为固有耐药。固有耐药由固有耐药基因决定,这类基因是指存在于某类细菌染色体上位置保守的与耐药相关的一类基因。近年来,对固有耐药基因的研究已经越来越受到重视。固有耐药基因的发现不仅可以为新药研制提供药物作用靶标,而且通过阻断病原菌固有耐药基因还可使以往对该类菌不起作用的抗生素药物重新焕发抗菌活性。此外,已有研究表明固有耐药基因能够被移动元件捕获进而可水平转移至其他细菌,因此通过监测固有耐药基因可以预测耐药菌的出现。本文对传统的细菌固有耐药机制包括细胞膜的低渗透性和多药外排泵系统,以及已知重要病原菌的转移酶和代谢相关酶的固有耐药机制进行了介绍。同时,进一步对隐性固有耐药基因的特性进行了阐释,最后探讨了固有耐药与获得性耐药的进化关系,指出固有耐药基因很可能是一些获得性耐药基因的来源。     

细菌自然转化的机制及影响因素

水平基因转移对耐药基因传播、编码毒素基因质粒的扩散和毒力岛的转移等过程具有重要的生物学意义。自然转化是指具有感受态的细菌从外界摄取并整合裸露DNA,是水平基因转移的方式之一。细菌发生自然转化极大地促进了耐药基因在不同细菌间的播散,导致细菌对抗生素耐药,给临床治疗带来极大的困难。许多细菌具备自然转化能力,但不同细菌自然转化过程存在着差异。细菌自然感受及转化的诱发及效率亦受到多种因素的影响。文中着重于阐述不同细菌的自然转化机制及其影响因素。     

Mobile Antibiotic Resistance Encoding Elements Promote Their Own Diversity

Integrating conjugative elements (ICEs) are a class of bacterial mobile genetic elements that disseminate via conjugation and then integrate into the host cell genome. The SXT/R391 family of ICEs consists of more than 30 different elements that all share the same integration site in the host chromosome but often encode distinct properties. These elements contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes in several gram-negative bacteria including Vibrio cholerae, the agent of cholera. Here, using comparative analyses of the genomes of several SXT/R391 ICEs, we found evidence that the genomes of these elements have been shaped by inter–ICE recombination. We developed a high throughput semi-quantitative method to explore the genetic determinants involved in hybrid ICE formation. Recombinant ICE formation proved to be relatively frequent, and to depend on host (recA) and ICE (s065 and s066) loci, which can independently and potentially cooperatively mediate hybrid ICE formation. s065 and s066, which are found in all SXT/R391 ICEs, are orthologues of the bacteriophage λ Red recombination genes bet and exo, and the s065/s066 recombination system is the first Red-like recombination pathway to be described in a conjugative element. Neither ICE excision nor conjugative transfer proved to be essential for generation of hybrid ICEs. Instead conjugation facilitates the segregation of hybrids and could provide a means to select for functional recombinant ICEs containing novel combinations of genes conferring resistance to antibiotics. Thus, ICEs promote their own diversity and can yield novel mobile elements capable of disseminating new combinations of antibiotic resistance genes.     

Comparative ICE Genomics: Insights into the Evolution of the SXT/R391 Family of ICEs

Integrating and conjugative elements (ICEs) are one of the three principal types of self-transmissible mobile genetic elements in bacteria. ICEs, like plasmids, transfer via conjugation; but unlike plasmids and similar to many phages, these elements integrate into and replicate along with the host chromosome. Members of the SXT/R391 family of ICEs have been isolated from several species of gram-negative bacteria, including Vibrio cholerae, the cause of cholera, where they have been important vectors for disseminating genes conferring resistance to antibiotics. Here we developed a plasmid-based system to capture and isolate SXT/R391 ICEs for sequencing. Comparative analyses of the genomes of 13 SXT/R391 ICEs derived from diverse hosts and locations revealed that they contain 52 perfectly syntenic and nearly identical core genes that serve as a scaffold capable of mobilizing an array of variable DNA. Furthermore, selection pressure to maintain ICE mobility appears to have restricted insertions of variable DNA into intergenic sites that do not interrupt core functions. The variable genes confer diverse element-specific phenotypes, such as resistance to antibiotics. Functional analysis of a set of deletion mutants revealed that less than half of the conserved core genes are required for ICE mobility; the functions of most of the dispensable core genes are unknown. Several lines of evidence suggest that there has been extensive recombination between SXT/R391 ICEs, resulting in re-assortment of their respective variable gene content. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that there may be a network of phylogenetic relationships among sequences found in all types of mobile genetic elements.     

Genomic and functional analysis of ICEPdaSpa1, a fish-pathogen-derived SXT-related integrating conjugative element that can mobilize a virulence plasmid

Integrating conjugative elements (ICEs) are self-transmissible mobile elements that transfer between bacteria via conjugation and integrate into the host chromosome. SXT and related ICEs became prevalent in Asian Vibrio cholerae populations in the 1990s and play an important role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in V. cholerae. Here, we carried out genomic and functional analyses of ICEPdaSpa1, an SXT-related ICE derived from a Spanish isolate of Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida, the causative agent of fish pasteurellosis. The approximately 102-kb DNA sequence of ICEPdaSpa1 shows nearly 97% DNA sequence identity to SXT in genes that encode essential ICE functions, including integration and excision, conjugal transfer, and regulation. However, approximately 25 kb of ICEPdaSpa1 DNA, including a tetracycline resistance locus, is not present in SXT. Most ICEPdaSpa1-specific DNA is inserted at loci where other SXT-related ICEs harbor element-specific DNA. ICEPdaSpa1 excises itself from the chromosome and is transmissible to other Photobacterium strains, as well as to Escherichia coli, in which it integrates into prfC. Interestingly, the P. damselae virulence plasmid pPHDP10 could be mobilized from E. coli in an ICEPdaSpa1-dependent fashion via the formation of a cointegrate between pPHDP10 and ICEPdaSpa1. pPHDP10-Cm integrated into ICEPdaSpa1 in a non-site-specific fashion independently of RecA. The ICEPdaSpa1::pPHDP10 cointegrates were stable, and markers from both elements became transmissible at frequencies similar to those observed for the transfer of ICEPdaSpa1 alone. Our findings reveal the plasticity of ICE genomes and demonstrate that ICEs can enable virulence gene transfer.     

Uncovering the prevalence and diversity of integrating conjugative elements in actinobacteria

Horizontal gene transfer greatly facilitates rapid genetic adaptation of bacteria to shifts in environmental conditions and colonization of new niches by allowing one-step acquisition of novel functions. Conjugation is a major mechanism of horizontal gene transfer mediated by conjugative plasmids and integrating conjugative elements (ICEs). While in most bacterial conjugative systems DNA translocation requires the assembly of a complex type IV secretion system (T4SS), in Actinobacteria a single DNA FtsK/SpoIIIE-like translocation protein is required. To date, the role and diversity of ICEs in Actinobacteria have received little attention. Putative ICEs were searched for in 275 genomes of Actinobacteria using HMM-profiles of proteins involved in ICE maintenance and transfer. These exhaustive analyses revealed 144 putative FtsK/SpoIIIE-type ICEs and 17 putative T4SS-type ICEs. Grouping of the ICEs based on the phylogenetic analyses of maintenance and transfer proteins revealed extensive exchanges between different sub-families of ICEs. 17 ICEs were found in Actinobacteria from the genus Frankia, globally important nitrogen-fixing microorganisms that establish root nodule symbioses with actinorhizal plants. Structural analysis of ICEs from Frankia revealed their unexpected diversity and a vast array of predicted adaptive functions. Frankia ICEs were found to excise by site-specific recombination from their host's chromosome in vitro and in planta suggesting that they are functional mobile elements whether Frankiae live as soil saprophytes or plant endosymbionts. Phylogenetic analyses of proteins involved in ICEs maintenance and transfer suggests that active exchange between ICEs cargo-borne and chromosomal genes took place within the Actinomycetales order. Functionality of Frankia ICEs in vitro as well as in planta lets us anticipate that conjugation and ICEs could allow the development of genetic manipulation tools for this challenging microorganism and for many other Actinobacteria.     

Antibiotic resistance gene spread due to manure application on agricultural fields

The usage of antibiotics in animal husbandry has promoted the development and abundance of antibiotic resistance in farm environments. Manure has become a reservoir of resistant bacteria and antibiotic compounds, and its application to agricultural soils is assumed to significantly increase antibiotic resistance genes and selection of resistant bacterial populations in soil. The genome location of resistance genes is likely to shift towards mobile genetic elements such as broad-host-range plasmids, integrons, and transposable elements. Horizontal transfer of these elements to bacteria adapted to soil or other habitats supports their environmental transmission independent of the original host. The human exposure to soil-borne resistance has yet to be determined, but is likely to be severely underestimated.     

Autonomous plasmid‐like replication of a conjugative transposon

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs), a.k.a. conjugative transposons, are mobile genetic elements involved in many biological processes, including pathogenesis, symbiosis and the spread of antibiotic resistance. Unlike conjugative plasmids that are extra‐chromosomal and replicate autonomously, ICEs are integrated in the chromosome and replicate passively during chromosomal replication. It is generally thought that ICEs do not replicate autonomously. We found that when induced, Bacillus subtilis ICEBs1 undergoes autonomous plasmid‐like replication. Replication was unidirectional, initiated from the ICEBs1 origin of transfer, oriT, and required the ICEBs1‐encoded relaxase NicK. Replication also required several host proteins needed for chromosomal replication, but did not require the replicative helicase DnaC or the helicase loader protein DnaB. Rather, replication of ICEBs1 required the helicase PcrA that is required for rolling circle replication of many plasmids. Transfer of ICEBs1 from the donor required PcrA, but did not require replication, indicating that PcrA, and not DNA replication, facilitates unwinding of ICEBs1 DNA for horizontal transfer. Although not needed for horizontal transfer, replication of ICEBs1 was needed for stability of the element. We propose that autonomous plasmid‐like replication is a common property of ICEs and contributes to the stability and maintenance of these mobile genetic elements in bacterial populations.     

Genome analysis of probiotic bacteria for antibiotic resistance genes

To date, probiotic bacteria are used in the diet and have various clinical applications. There are reports of antibiotic resistance genes in these bacteria that can transfer to other commensal and pathogenic bacteria. The aim of this study was to use whole-genome sequence analysis to identify antibiotic resistance genes in a group of bacterial with probiotic properties. Also, this study followed existing issues about the importance and presence of antibiotic resistance genes in these bacteria and the dangers that may affect human health in the future. In the current study, a collection of 126 complete probiotic bacterial genomes was analyzed for antibiotic resistance genes. The results of the current study showed that there are various resistance genes in these bacteria that some of them are transferable to other bacteria. The tet(W) tetracycline resistance gene was more than other antibiotic resistance genes in these bacteria and this gene was found in Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. In our study, the most numbers of antibiotic resistance genes were transferred with mobile genetic elements. We propose that probiotic companies before the use of a micro-organism as a probiotic, perform an antibiotic susceptibility testing for a large number of antibiotics. Also, they perform analysis of complete genome sequence for prediction of antibiotic resistance genes.

     

Tn916-like genetic elements: a diverse group of modular mobile elements conferring antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria are responsible for morbidity and mortality in healthcare environments. Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae can all exhibit clinically relevant multidrug resistance phenotypes due to acquired resistance genes on mobile genetic elements. It is possible that clinically relevant multidrug-resistant Clostridium difficile strains will appear in the future, as the organism is adept at acquiring mobile genetic elements (plasmids and transposons). Conjugative transposons of the Tn916/Tn1545 family, which carry major antibiotic resistance determinants, are transmissible between these different bacteria by a conjugative mechanism during which the elements are excised by a staggered cut from donor cells, converted to a circular form, transferred by cell-cell contact and inserted into recipient cells by a site-specific recombinase. The ability of these conjugative transposons to acquire additional, clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes importantly contributes to the emergence of multidrug resistance.