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Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae

Plasmids are a highly effective means with which genetic traits that influence human health, such as virulence and antibiotic resistance, are disseminated through bacterial populations. The IncX-family is a hitherto sparsely populated group of plasmids that are able to thrive within Enterobacteriace...

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Autores principales: Burmølle, Mette, Norman, Anders, Sørensen, Søren J., Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402527/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22844447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041259
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author Burmølle, Mette
Norman, Anders
Sørensen, Søren J.
Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg
author_facet Burmølle, Mette
Norman, Anders
Sørensen, Søren J.
Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg
author_sort Burmølle, Mette
collection PubMed
description Plasmids are a highly effective means with which genetic traits that influence human health, such as virulence and antibiotic resistance, are disseminated through bacterial populations. The IncX-family is a hitherto sparsely populated group of plasmids that are able to thrive within Enterobacteriaceae. In this study, a replicon-centric screening method was used to locate strains from wastewater sludge containing plasmids belonging to the IncX-family. A transposon aided plasmid capture method was then employed to transport IncX-plasmids from their original hosts (and co-hosted plasmids) into a laboratory strain (Escherichia coli Genehogs®) for further study. The nucleotide sequences of the three newly isolated IncX-plasmids (pLN126_33, pMO17_54, pMO440_54) and the hitherto un-sequenced type-plasmid R485 revealed a remarkable occurrence of whole or partial gene cassettes that promote biofilm-formation in Klebsiella pneumonia or E. coli, in all four instances. Two of the plasmids (R485 and pLN126_33) were shown to directly induce biofilm formation in a crystal violet retention assay in E. coli. Sequence comparison revealed that all plasmid-borne forms of the type 3 fimbriae encoding gene cassette mrkABCDF were variations of a composite transposon Tn6011 first described in the E. coli IncX plasmid pOLA52. In conclusion, IncX-plasmids isolated from Enterobacteriaceae over almost 40 years and on three different continents have all been shown to carry a type 3 fimbriae gene cassette mrkABCDF stemming from pathogenic K. pneumoniae. Apart from contributing general knowledge about IncX-plasmids, this study also suggests an apparent ubiquity of a mobile form of an important virulence factor and is an illuminating example of the recruitment, evolution and dissemination of genetic traits through plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer.
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spelling pubmed-34025272012-07-27 Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae Burmølle, Mette Norman, Anders Sørensen, Søren J. Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg PLoS One Research Article Plasmids are a highly effective means with which genetic traits that influence human health, such as virulence and antibiotic resistance, are disseminated through bacterial populations. The IncX-family is a hitherto sparsely populated group of plasmids that are able to thrive within Enterobacteriaceae. In this study, a replicon-centric screening method was used to locate strains from wastewater sludge containing plasmids belonging to the IncX-family. A transposon aided plasmid capture method was then employed to transport IncX-plasmids from their original hosts (and co-hosted plasmids) into a laboratory strain (Escherichia coli Genehogs®) for further study. The nucleotide sequences of the three newly isolated IncX-plasmids (pLN126_33, pMO17_54, pMO440_54) and the hitherto un-sequenced type-plasmid R485 revealed a remarkable occurrence of whole or partial gene cassettes that promote biofilm-formation in Klebsiella pneumonia or E. coli, in all four instances. Two of the plasmids (R485 and pLN126_33) were shown to directly induce biofilm formation in a crystal violet retention assay in E. coli. Sequence comparison revealed that all plasmid-borne forms of the type 3 fimbriae encoding gene cassette mrkABCDF were variations of a composite transposon Tn6011 first described in the E. coli IncX plasmid pOLA52. In conclusion, IncX-plasmids isolated from Enterobacteriaceae over almost 40 years and on three different continents have all been shown to carry a type 3 fimbriae gene cassette mrkABCDF stemming from pathogenic K. pneumoniae. Apart from contributing general knowledge about IncX-plasmids, this study also suggests an apparent ubiquity of a mobile form of an important virulence factor and is an illuminating example of the recruitment, evolution and dissemination of genetic traits through plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer. Public Library of Science 2012-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC3402527/ /pubmed/22844447 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041259 Text en Burmølle et al. 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
Burmølle, Mette
Norman, Anders
Sørensen, Søren J.
Hansen, Lars Hestbjerg
Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title_full Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title_fullStr Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title_full_unstemmed Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title_short Sequencing of IncX-Plasmids Suggests Ubiquity of Mobile Forms of a Biofilm-Promoting Gene Cassette Recruited from Klebsiella pneumoniae
title_sort sequencing of incx-plasmids suggests ubiquity of mobile forms of a biofilm-promoting gene cassette recruited from klebsiella pneumoniae
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402527/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22844447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041259
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