An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus
The horizontal gene transfer facilitated by mobile genetic elements impacts almost all areas of bacterial evolution, including the accretion and dissemination of antimicrobial-resistance genes in the human and animal pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Genome surveys of staphylococcal plasmids have reve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75433 |
| _version_ | 1848763479658332160 |
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| author | Ramsay, Joshua Kwong, S. Murphy, Riley Yui Eto, Karina Price, Karina Nguyen, Quang O'Brien, Frances Grubb, Warren Coombs, Geoffrey Firth, N. |
| author_facet | Ramsay, Joshua Kwong, S. Murphy, Riley Yui Eto, Karina Price, Karina Nguyen, Quang O'Brien, Frances Grubb, Warren Coombs, Geoffrey Firth, N. |
| author_sort | Ramsay, Joshua |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The horizontal gene transfer facilitated by mobile genetic elements impacts almost all areas of bacterial evolution, including the accretion and dissemination of antimicrobial-resistance genes in the human and animal pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Genome surveys of staphylococcal plasmids have revealed an unexpected paucity of conjugation and mobilization loci, perhaps suggesting that conjugation plays only a minor role in the evolution of this genus. In this letter we present the DNA sequences of historically documented staphylococcal conjugative plasmids and highlight that at least 3 distinct and widely distributed families of conjugative plasmids currently contribute to the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus. We also review the recently documented "relaxase-in trans" mechanism of conjugative mobilization facilitated by conjugative plasmids pWBG749 and pSK41, and discuss how this may facilitate the horizontal transmission of around 90% of plasmids that were previously considered non-mobilizable. Finally, we enumerate unique sequenced S. aureus plasmids with a potential mechanism of mobilization and predict that at least 80% of all non-conjugative S. aureus plasmids are mobilizable by at least one mechanism. We suggest that a greater research focus on the molecular biology of conjugation is essential if we are to recognize gene-transfer mechanisms from our increasingly in silico analyses. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:04:07Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-75433 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:04:07Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-754332019-05-07T07:49:09Z An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus Ramsay, Joshua Kwong, S. Murphy, Riley Yui Eto, Karina Price, Karina Nguyen, Quang O'Brien, Frances Grubb, Warren Coombs, Geoffrey Firth, N. MRSA Mob antibiotic resistance horizontal gene transfer mating pore mobilization pGO1 pSK41 plasmid relaxase type IV secretion The horizontal gene transfer facilitated by mobile genetic elements impacts almost all areas of bacterial evolution, including the accretion and dissemination of antimicrobial-resistance genes in the human and animal pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Genome surveys of staphylococcal plasmids have revealed an unexpected paucity of conjugation and mobilization loci, perhaps suggesting that conjugation plays only a minor role in the evolution of this genus. In this letter we present the DNA sequences of historically documented staphylococcal conjugative plasmids and highlight that at least 3 distinct and widely distributed families of conjugative plasmids currently contribute to the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus. We also review the recently documented "relaxase-in trans" mechanism of conjugative mobilization facilitated by conjugative plasmids pWBG749 and pSK41, and discuss how this may facilitate the horizontal transmission of around 90% of plasmids that were previously considered non-mobilizable. Finally, we enumerate unique sequenced S. aureus plasmids with a potential mechanism of mobilization and predict that at least 80% of all non-conjugative S. aureus plasmids are mobilizable by at least one mechanism. We suggest that a greater research focus on the molecular biology of conjugation is essential if we are to recognize gene-transfer mechanisms from our increasingly in silico analyses. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75433 10.1080/2159256X.2016.1208317 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | MRSA Mob antibiotic resistance horizontal gene transfer mating pore mobilization pGO1 pSK41 plasmid relaxase type IV secretion Ramsay, Joshua Kwong, S. Murphy, Riley Yui Eto, Karina Price, Karina Nguyen, Quang O'Brien, Frances Grubb, Warren Coombs, Geoffrey Firth, N. An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title | An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title_full | An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title_fullStr | An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title_full_unstemmed | An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title_short | An updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in Staphylococcus |
| title_sort | updated view of plasmid conjugation and mobilisation in staphylococcus |
| topic | MRSA Mob antibiotic resistance horizontal gene transfer mating pore mobilization pGO1 pSK41 plasmid relaxase type IV secretion |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75433 |