Pathogenicity Island-Directed Transfer of Unlinked Chromosomal Virulence Genes
Pathogenicity Island-Directed Transfer of Unlinked Chromosomal Virulence Genes
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DOI：
10.1016/j.molcel.2014.11.011
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发表时间：
2015-01-08
期刊：
影响因子：
16
通讯作者：
Novick, Richard P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chen, John;Ram, Geeta;Novick, Richard P.
近几十年来，臭名昭著的病原体金黄色葡萄球菌的传染性、毒性和抗生素耐药性逐渐增强。这意味着相当动态的进化能力，代表了显着水平的基因组可塑性，很可能是通过水平基因转移来维持的。在这里，我们报道葡萄球菌致病岛在基因转移中具有双重作用：它们不仅介导自身的转移，而且可以独立指导含有毒力基因的未连锁染色体片段的转移。虽然岛本身的转移需要特定的辅助噬菌体，但未连接的染色体片段的转移则不需要，因此任何 pac 型噬菌体都可能发挥作用。这些结果表明，SaPI 可以增加与疾病相关的辅助基因的水平交换，并可能使病原体基因组超出其附着位点的范围。
In recent decades, the notorious pathogen Staphylococcus aureus has become progressively more contagious, more virulent, and more resistant to antibiotics. This implies a rather dynamic evolutionary capability, representing a remarkable level of genomic plasticity, most probably maintained by horizontal gene transfer. Here we report that the staphylococcal pathogenicity islands have a dual role in gene transfer: they not only mediate their own transfer, but they can independently direct the transfer of unlinked chromosomal segments containing virulence genes. While transfer of the island itself requires specific helper phages, transfer of unlinked chromosomal segments does not, so potentially any pac-type phage will serve. These results reveal that SaPIs can increase the horizontal exchange of accessory genes associated with disease and may shape pathogen genomes beyond the confines of their attachment sites.