Cargando…

Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Many clinical isolates of the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae contain conjugative plasmids. The host range of these plasmids is limited to Neisseria species, but presence of a tetracycline (tetM) determinant inserted in several of these plasmids is an important cause of the rapid spread of tetr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pachulec, Emilia, van der Does, Chris
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20376355
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009962
_version_ 1782179690701651968
author Pachulec, Emilia
van der Does, Chris
author_facet Pachulec, Emilia
van der Does, Chris
author_sort Pachulec, Emilia
collection PubMed
description Many clinical isolates of the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae contain conjugative plasmids. The host range of these plasmids is limited to Neisseria species, but presence of a tetracycline (tetM) determinant inserted in several of these plasmids is an important cause of the rapid spread of tetracycline resistance. Previously plasmids with different backbones (Dutch and American type backbones) and with and without different tetM determinants (Dutch and American type tetM determinants) have been identified. Within the isolates tested, all plasmids with American or Dutch type tetM determinants contained a Dutch type plasmid backbone. This demonstrated that tetM determinants should not be used to differentiate between conjugal plasmid backbones. The nucleotide sequences of conjugative plasmids with Dutch type plasmid backbones either not containing the tetM determinant (pEP5233) or containing Dutch (pEP5289) or American (pEP5050) type tetM determinants were determined. Analysis of the backbone sequences showed that they belong to a novel IncP1 subfamily divergent from the IncP1α, β, γ, δ and ε subfamilies. The tetM determinants were inserted in a genetic load region found in all these plasmids. Insertion was accompanied by the insertion of a gene with an unknown function, and rearrangement of a toxin/antitoxin gene cluster. The genetic load region contains two toxin/antitoxins of the Zeta/Epsilon toxin/antitoxin family previously only found in Gram positive organisms and the virulence associated protein D of the VapD/VapX toxin/antitoxin family. Remarkably, presence of VapX of pJD1, a small cryptic neisserial plasmid, in the acceptor strain strongly increased the conjugation efficiency, suggesting that it functions as an antitoxin for the conjugative plasmid. The presence of the toxin and antitoxin on different plasmids might explain why the host range of this IncP1 plasmid is limited to Neisseria species. The isolated plasmids conjugated efficiently between N. gonorrhoeae strains, but did not enhance transfer of a genetic marker.
format Text
id pubmed-2848598
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2010
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-28485982010-04-07 Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Pachulec, Emilia van der Does, Chris PLoS One Research Article Many clinical isolates of the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae contain conjugative plasmids. The host range of these plasmids is limited to Neisseria species, but presence of a tetracycline (tetM) determinant inserted in several of these plasmids is an important cause of the rapid spread of tetracycline resistance. Previously plasmids with different backbones (Dutch and American type backbones) and with and without different tetM determinants (Dutch and American type tetM determinants) have been identified. Within the isolates tested, all plasmids with American or Dutch type tetM determinants contained a Dutch type plasmid backbone. This demonstrated that tetM determinants should not be used to differentiate between conjugal plasmid backbones. The nucleotide sequences of conjugative plasmids with Dutch type plasmid backbones either not containing the tetM determinant (pEP5233) or containing Dutch (pEP5289) or American (pEP5050) type tetM determinants were determined. Analysis of the backbone sequences showed that they belong to a novel IncP1 subfamily divergent from the IncP1α, β, γ, δ and ε subfamilies. The tetM determinants were inserted in a genetic load region found in all these plasmids. Insertion was accompanied by the insertion of a gene with an unknown function, and rearrangement of a toxin/antitoxin gene cluster. The genetic load region contains two toxin/antitoxins of the Zeta/Epsilon toxin/antitoxin family previously only found in Gram positive organisms and the virulence associated protein D of the VapD/VapX toxin/antitoxin family. Remarkably, presence of VapX of pJD1, a small cryptic neisserial plasmid, in the acceptor strain strongly increased the conjugation efficiency, suggesting that it functions as an antitoxin for the conjugative plasmid. The presence of the toxin and antitoxin on different plasmids might explain why the host range of this IncP1 plasmid is limited to Neisseria species. The isolated plasmids conjugated efficiently between N. gonorrhoeae strains, but did not enhance transfer of a genetic marker. Public Library of Science 2010-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC2848598/ /pubmed/20376355 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009962 Text en Pachulec, van der Does. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Pachulec, Emilia
van der Does, Chris
Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_full Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_fullStr Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_full_unstemmed Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_short Conjugative Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_sort conjugative plasmids of neisseria gonorrhoeae
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20376355
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009962
work_keys_str_mv AT pachulecemilia conjugativeplasmidsofneisseriagonorrhoeae
AT vanderdoeschris conjugativeplasmidsofneisseriagonorrhoeae