病原菌毒力岛研究进展

毒力岛作为基因组岛的一种亚类，是细菌染色体上具有特定结构和功能特征的可移动基因大片段，经基因水平转移（转导、接合或转化）获得，可使细菌基因组进化在短期内发生“量的飞跃”，直接或间接增强细菌的生态适应性，与病原菌的致病性密切相关。毒力岛存在于多种动植物病原细菌中，对于细菌的毒力变异、遗传进化甚至新病原亚种形成有重要意义。简要综述了病原菌毒力岛的研究进展，介绍了毒力岛的结构、功能特征及其在病原菌进化中作用。

Pathogenicity Islands of Bacterial Pathogens

Pathogenicity islands （PAl） are distinct genetic elements on the chromosomes of a large number of bacterial pathogens. PAI are considered to be a subclass of genomic islands that are acquired by horizontal gene transfer via transduction, conjugation and transformation, and provide “quantum leaps” in genetic variation therefore in microbial evolution. Data based on numerous sequenced bacterial genomes demonstrate that PAI are present in a wide range of both Grampositive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens of humans, animals and plants. Recent research focused on PAI has not only led to the identification of many novel virulence factors used by these species during infection of their respective hosts, but also dramatically changed our way of thinking about the evolution of bacterial virulence. This review described the present situation on PAI research of pathogens, and discussed the significance of PAI during microbial revolution.