Detection and Quantification of Conjugative Transfer of Mobile Genetic Elements Carrying Antibiotic Resistance Genes.

Multidrug resistance, due to acquired antimicrobial resistance genes, is increasingly reported in the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis. Most of these resistance genes are carried by chromosomal Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs), in particular, Integrative and Conjugative Elements (ICEs) and Integrative and Mobilizable Elements (IMEs). ICEs and IMEs frequently form tandems or nested composite elements, which make their identification difficult.

Virulence genes, resistome and mobilome of strains isolated in France.

is a leading cause of infection in pigs, causing extensive economic losses. In addition, it can also infect wild fauna, and can be responsible for severe infections in humans. Increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been described in worldwide and most of the AMR genes are carried by mobile genetic elements (MGEs).

Antimicrobial resistance profiles of isolated from pigs, wild boars, and humans in France between 1994 and 2020.

an emerging zoonotic pathogen, causes invasive infections and substantial economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. Antimicrobial resistance against 22 antibiotics was studied for 200 . strains collected in different geographical regions of France.

Exploration of DNA processing features unravels novel properties of ICE conjugation in Gram-positive bacteria.

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are important drivers of horizontal gene transfer in prokaryotes. They are responsible for antimicrobial resistance spread, a major current health concern. ICEs are initially processed by relaxases that recognize the binding site of oriT sequence and nick at a conserved nic site.

Update on the Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance and the Mobile Resistome in the Emerging Zoonotic Pathogen .

is a zoonotic pathogen causing important economic losses in swine production. The most commonly used antibiotics in swine industry are tetracyclines, beta-lactams, and macrolides. Resistance to these antibiotics has already been observed worldwide (reaching high rates for macrolides and tetracyclines) as well as resistance to aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, amphenicols, and glycopeptides.

Mobilization of IMEs Integrated in the of ICEs Involves Their Own Relaxase Belonging to the Rep-Trans Family of Proteins.

Integrative mobilizable elements (IMEs) are widespread but very poorly studied integrated elements that can excise and hijack the transfer apparatus of co-resident conjugative elements to promote their own spreading. Sixty-four putative IMEs, harboring closely related mobilization and recombination modules, were found in 14 species and in . Fifty-three are integrated into the origin of transfer () of a host integrative conjugative element (ICE), encoding a MobT relaxase and belonging to three distant families: ICE, Tn, and ICE.

Abundance, Diversity and Role of ICEs and IMEs in the Adaptation of to the Environment.

is a significant contributor to the human oral, pharyngeal and gut microbiomes that contribute to the maintenance of health. The high genomic diversity observed in this species is mainly caused by horizontal gene transfer. This work aimed to evaluate the contribution of integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) and integrative and mobilizable elements (IMEs) in genome diversity.

Chromosomal Conjugative and Mobilizable Elements in : Major Actors in the Spreading of Antimicrobial Resistance and Bacteriocin Synthesis Genes.

is a zoonotic pathogen suspected to be a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. The genomes of 214 strains of 27 serotypes were screened for AMR genes and chromosomal Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs), in particular Integrative Conjugative Elements (ICEs) and Integrative Mobilizable Elements (IMEs). The functionality of two ICEs that host IMEs carrying AMR genes was investigated by excision tests and conjugation experiments.

Characterization of a relaxase belonging to the MOB family, a widespread family in Firmicutes mediating the transfer of ICEs.

Background: Conjugative spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in bacteria constitutes an important threat to public health. Beyond the well-known conjugative plasmids, recent genome analyses have shown that integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are the most widespread conjugative elements, even if their transfer mechanism has been little studied until now. The initiator of conjugation is the relaxase, a protein catalyzing a site-specific nick on the origin of transfer () of the ICE.

The Obscure World of Integrative and Mobilizable Elements, Highly Widespread Elements that Pirate Bacterial Conjugative Systems.

Conjugation is a key mechanism of bacterial evolution that involves mobile genetic elements. Recent findings indicated that the main actors of conjugative transfer are not the well-known conjugative or mobilizable plasmids but are the integrated elements. This paper reviews current knowledge on "integrative and mobilizable elements" (IMEs) that have recently been shown to be highly diverse and highly widespread but are still rarely described.

Plasmid-like replication of a minimal streptococcal integrative and conjugative element.

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are mobile genetic elements encoding their own excision from a replicon of their bacterial host, transfer by conjugation to a recipient bacterium and reintegration for maintenance. The conjugation, recombination and regulation modules of ICEs of the ICE family are grouped together in a region called the ICE 'core region'. In addition to this core region, elements belonging to this family carry a highly variable region including cargo genes that could be involved in bacterial adaptation or in the maintenance of the element.

Resistance Genes and Genetic Elements Associated with Antibiotic Resistance in Clinical and Commensal Isolates of Streptococcus salivarius.

The diversity of clinical (n = 92) and oral and digestive commensal (n = 120) isolates of Streptococcus salivarius was analyzed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). No clustering of clinical or commensal strains can be observed in the phylogenetic tree. Selected strains (92 clinical and 46 commensal strains) were then examined for their susceptibilities to tetracyclines, macrolides, lincosamides, aminoglycosides, and phenicol antibiotics.

Matrilin-3 switches from anti- to pro-anabolic upon integration to the extracellular matrix.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) has long been viewed primarily as an organized network of solid-phase ligands for integrin receptors. During degenerative processes, such as osteoarthritis, the ECM undergoes deterioration, resulting in its remodeling and in the release of some of its components. Matrilin-3 (MATN3) is an almost cartilage specific, pericellular protein acting in the assembly of the ECM of chondrocytes.

Differential regulation of two closely related integrative and conjugative elements from Streptococcus thermophilus.

Background: Two closely related ICEs, ICESt1 and ICESt3, have been identified in the lactic acid bacterium Streptococcus thermophilus. While their conjugation and recombination modules are almost identical (95% nucleotide identity) and their regulation modules related, previous work has demonstrated that transconjugants carrying ICESt3 were generated at rate exceeding by a 1000 factor that of ICESt1.

Results: The functional regulation of ICESt1 and ICESt3 transcription, excision and replication were investigated under different conditions (exponential growth or stationary phase, DNA damage by exposition to mitomycin C).

Homologous recombination at the border: insertion-deletions and the trapping of foreign DNA in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Integration of foreign DNA was observed in the Gram-positive human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) after transformation with DNA from a recombinant Escherichia coli bacteriophage lamda carrying a pneumococcal insert. Segments of lamda DNA replaced chromosomal sequences adjacent to the region homologous with the pneumococcal insert, whence the name insertion-deletion. Here we report that a pneumococcal insert was absolutely required for insertion-deletion formation, but could be as short as 153 bp; that the sizes of foreign DNA insertions (289-2,474 bp) and concomitant chromosomal deletions (45-1,485 bp) were not obviously correlated; that novel joints clustered preferentially within segments of high GC content; and that the crossovers in 29 independent novel joints were located 1 bp from the border or within short (3-10 nt long) stretches of identity (microhomology) between resident and foreign DNA.

Role of the ATP-binding site of SopA protein in partition of the F plasmid.

SopA belongs to a large family of bacterial partition protein ATPases. It helps stabilize the F plasmid by acting as the primary repressor of transcription of the sopAB operon, preventing the destabilizing effects of Sop protein excess. It is also thought to act directly in the F partition mechanism.

Disruption of the F plasmid partition complex in vivo by partition protein SopA.

The SopA protein plays an essential, though so far undefined, role in partition of the mini-F plasmid but, when overproduced, it causes loss of mini-F from growing cells. Our investigation of this phenomenon has revealed that excess SopA protein reduces the linking number of mini-F. It appears to do so by disturbing the partition complex, in which SopB normally introduces local positive supercoiling upon binding to the sopC centromere, as it occurs only in plasmids carrying sopC and in the presence of SopB protein.

Interaction of nucleolin with an evolutionarily conserved pre-ribosomal RNA sequence is required for the assembly of the primary processing complex.

The first processing event of the precursor ribosomal RNA (pre-rRNA) takes place within the 5' external transcribed spacer. This primary processing requires conserved cis-acting RNA sequence downstream from the cleavage site and several nucleic acids (small nucleolar RNAs) and proteins trans-acting factors including nucleolin, a major nucleolar protein. The specific interaction of nucleolin with the pre-rRNA is required for processing in vitro.