Bap-dependent biofilm formation by pathogenic species of Staphylococcus: evidence of horizontal gene transfer?

Microbiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 151 (7) ◽  
pp. 2465-2475 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ángeles Tormo ◽  
Erwin Knecht ◽  
Friedrich Götz ◽  
Iñigo Lasa ◽  
José R. Penadés
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Biofilm Formation ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Surface Protein ◽  
Pathogenicity Island ◽  
Alternative Mechanism ◽  
Coagulase Negative Staphylococci ◽  
High Sequence Similarity ◽  
Staphylococcus Simulans

The biofilm-associated protein (Bap) is a surface protein implicated in biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus isolated from chronic mastitis infections. The bap gene is carried in a putative composite transposon inserted in SaPIbov2, a mobile staphylococcal pathogenicity island. In this study, bap orthologue genes from several staphylococcal species, including Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus chromogenes, Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus simulans and Staphylococcus hyicus, were identified, cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis comparison of the bap gene from these species revealed a very high sequence similarity, suggesting the horizontal gene transfer of SaPIbov2 amongst them. However, sequence analyses of the flanking region revealed that the bap gene of these species was not contained in the SaPIbov2 pathogenicity island. Although they did not contain the icaADBC operon, all the coagulase-negative staphylococcal isolates harbouring bap were strong biofilm producers. Disruption of the bap gene in S. epidermidis abolished its capacity to form a biofilm, whereas heterologous complementation of a biofilm-negative strain of S. aureus with the Bap protein from S. epidermidis bestowed the capacity to form a biofilm on a polystyrene surface. Altogether, these results demonstrate that Bap orthologues from coagulase-negative staphylococci induce an alternative mechanism of biofilm formation that is independent of the PIA/PNAG exopolysaccharide.

Genetic relatedness of Streptococcus dysgalactiae isolates causing recurrent bacteraemia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Senneby ◽  
Björn Hallström ◽  
Magnus Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Streptococcus Dysgalactiae ◽  
High Sequence Similarity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Clonal Origin

Introduction. Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis (SDSE) is becoming increasingly recognized as an important human pathogen. Recurrent bacteremia with SDSE has been described previously. Aim. The aims of the study were to establish the genetic relatedness of SDSE isolates with emm-type stG643 that had caused recurrent bacteraemia in three patients and to search for signs of horizontal gene transfer of the emm gene in a collection of SDSE stG643 genomes. Hypothesis. Recurring SDSE bacteremia is caused by the same clone in one patient. Methodology. Whole genome sequencing of 22 clinical SDSE stG643 isolates was performed, including three paired blood culture isolates and sixteen isolates from various sites. All assemblies were aligned to a reference assembly and SNPs were extracted. A total of 53 SDSE genomes were downloaded from GenBank. Two phylogenetic trees, including all 75 SDSE isolates, were created. One tree was based on the emm gene only and one tree was based on all variable positions in the genomes. Results. The genomes from the three pairs of SDSE isolates showed high sequence similarity (1–17 SNPs difference between the pairs), whereas the median SNP difference between the 22 isolates in our collection was 1694 (range 1–11257). The paired isolates were retrieved with 7–53 months between episodes. The 22 SDSE isolates from our collection formed a cluster in the phylogenetic tree based on the emm gene, while they were more scattered in the tree based on all variable positions. Conclusions. Our results show that the paired isolates were of the same clonal origin, which in turn supports carriage between bacteraemia episodes. The phylogenetic analysis indicates that horizontal gene transfer of the emm-gene between some of the SDSE isolates has occurred.

scholarly journals Biosynthesis of the Unique Wall Teichoic Acid of Staphylococcus aureus Lineage ST395

mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Winstel ◽  
Patricia Sanchez-Carballo ◽  
Otto Holst ◽  
Guoqing Xia ◽  
Andreas Peschel
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Biosynthesis Pathway ◽  
Glycerol Phosphate ◽  
Coagulase Negative Staphylococci ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gram Positive Bacteria ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acids

ABSTRACT The major clonal lineages of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus produce cell wall-anchored anionic poly-ribitol-phosphate (RboP) wall teichoic acids (WTA) substituted with d-Alanine and N-acetyl-d-glucosamine. The phylogenetically isolated S. aureus ST395 lineage has recently been found to produce a unique poly-glycerol-phosphate (GroP) WTA glycosylated with N-acetyl-d-galactosamine (GalNAc). ST395 clones bear putative WTA biosynthesis genes on a novel genetic element probably acquired from coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). We elucidated the ST395 WTA biosynthesis pathway and identified three novel WTA biosynthetic genes, including those encoding an α-O-GalNAc transferase TagN, a nucleotide sugar epimerase TagV probably required for generation of the activated sugar donor substrate for TagN, and an unusually short GroP WTA polymerase TagF. By using a panel of mutants derived from ST395, the GalNAc residues carried by GroP WTA were found to be required for infection by the ST395-specific bacteriophage Φ187 and to play a crucial role in horizontal gene transfer of S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs). Notably, ectopic expression of ST395 WTA biosynthesis genes rendered normal S. aureus susceptible to Φ187 and enabled Φ187-mediated SaPI transfer from ST395 to regular S. aureus. We provide evidence that exchange of WTA genes and their combination in variable, mosaic-like gene clusters have shaped the evolution of staphylococci and their capacities to undergo horizontal gene transfer events. IMPORTANCE The structural highly diverse wall teichoic acids (WTA) are cell wall-anchored glycopolymers produced by most Gram-positive bacteria. While most of the dominant Staphylococcus aureus lineages produce poly-ribitol-phosphate WTA, the recently described ST395 lineage produces a distinct poly-glycerol-phosphate WTA type resembling the WTA backbone of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). Here, we analyzed the ST395 WTA biosynthesis pathway and found new types of WTA biosynthesis genes along with an evolutionary link between ST395 and CoNS, from which the ST395 WTA genes probably originate. The elucidation of ST395 WTA biosynthesis will help to understand how Gram-positive bacteria produce highly variable WTA types and elucidate functional consequences of WTA variation.

scholarly journals Novel 4-Chlorophenol Degradation Gene Cluster and Degradation Route via Hydroxyquinol in Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (11) ◽  
pp. 6538-6544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Nordin ◽  
Maria Unell ◽  
Janet K. Jansson
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Gene Cluster ◽  
Microbial Degradation ◽  
Codon Bias ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Open Reading Frames ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Arthrobacter Chlorophenolicus ◽  
Reading Frames

ABSTRACT Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6, a previously described 4-chlorophenol-degrading strain, was found to degrade 4-chlorophenol via hydroxyquinol, which is a novel route for aerobic microbial degradation of this compound. In addition, 10 open reading frames exhibiting sequence similarity to genes encoding enzymes involved in chlorophenol degradation were cloned and designated part of a chlorophenol degradation gene cluster (cph genes). Several of the open reading frames appeared to encode enzymes with similar functions; these open reading frames included two genes, cphA-I and cphA-II, which were shown to encode functional hydroxyquinol 1,2-dioxygenases. Disruption of the cphA-I gene yielded a mutant that exhibited negligible growth on 4-chlorophenol, thereby linking the cph gene cluster to functional catabolism of 4-chlorophenol in A. chlorophenolicus A6. The presence of a resolvase pseudogene in the cph gene cluster together with analyses of the G+C content and codon bias of flanking genes suggested that horizontal gene transfer was involved in assembly of the gene cluster during evolution of the ability of the strain to grow on 4-chlorophenol.

Transfer index, NetUniFrac and some useful shortest path-based distances for community analysis in sequence similarity networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 2740-2749
Author(s):  
Henry Xing ◽  
Steven W Kembel ◽  
Vladimir Makarenkov
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Phylogenetic Tree ◽  
Shortest Path ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Community Analysis ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Similarity Networks ◽  
Transfer Index ◽  
Sequence Similarity Networks

Abstract Motivation Phylogenetic trees and the methods for their analysis have played a key role in many evolutionary, ecological and bioinformatics studies. Alternatively, phylogenetic networks have been widely used to analyze and represent complex reticulate evolutionary processes which cannot be adequately studied using traditional phylogenetic methods. These processes include, among others, hybridization, horizontal gene transfer, and genetic recombination. Nowadays, sequence similarity and genome similarity networks have become an efficient tool for community analysis of large molecular datasets in comparative studies. These networks can be used for tackling a variety of complex evolutionary problems such as the identification of horizontal gene transfer events, the recovery of mosaic genes and genomes, and the study of holobionts. Results The shortest path in a phylogenetic tree is used to estimate evolutionary distances between species. We show how the shortest path concept can be extended to sequence similarity networks by defining five new distances, NetUniFrac, Spp, Spep, Spelp and Spinp, and the Transfer index, between species communities present in the network. These new distances can be seen as network analogs of the traditional UniFrac distance used to assess dissimilarity between species communities in a phylogenetic tree, whereas the Transfer index is intended for estimating the rate and direction of gene transfers, or species dispersal, between different phylogenetic, or ecological, species communities. Moreover, NetUniFrac and the Transfer index can be computed in linear time with respect to the number of edges in the network. We show how these new measures can be used to analyze microbiota and antibiotic resistance gene similarity networks. Availability and implementation Our NetFrac program, implemented in R and C, along with its source code, is freely available on Github at the following URL address: https://github.com/XPHenry/Netfrac. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

scholarly journals The interconnection between biofilm formation and horizontal gene transfer

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Stenløkke Madsen ◽  
Mette Burmølle ◽  
Lars Hestbjerg Hansen ◽  
Søren Johannes Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Biofilm Formation

scholarly journals Parasitism-evoked horizontal gene transfer between plants as a novel trigger for specialized metabolism evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiichiro Ono ◽  
Kohki Shimizu ◽  
Jun Murata ◽  
Akira Shiraishi ◽  
Ryusuke Yokoyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Metabolic Evolution ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Cuscuta Campestris ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
Biological Impacts

Abstract Recent genomic studies of parasitic plants have revealed that there are numerous footprints indicative of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) to the parasites from their host plants. However, the molecular mechanisms and biological impacts of this phenomenon have remained largely unknown. Here, we made the striking observation that two parasitic dodders, Cuscuta campestris and C. australis, have functional homologues of Si_CYP81Q1, which encodes piperitol/sesamin synthase (PSS) in the phylogenetically remote plant Sesamum indicum (sesame). The apparent lack of sequence similarity between the regions flanking PSS in Sesamum and Cuscuta spp. suggests the occurrence of HGT tightly associated with the PSS gene. Upon parasitism, C. campestris induced expression of the host Si_CYP81Q1 at the parasitic interface and mature and intron-retained Si_CYP81Q1 mRNA was transferred to C. campestris, suggesting that CYP81Q1 was translocated via RNA-mediated HGT. Thus, parasitism-evoked HGT might have had an unexpected role in the metabolic evolution of plants.

scholarly journals Identification of Sinorhizobium melilotiGenes Regulated during Symbiosis

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (13) ◽  
pp. 3632-3637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Cabanes ◽  
Pierre Boistard ◽  
Jacques Batut
Keyword(s):  
Sinorhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex ◽  
Surface Protein ◽  
Symbiotic Interaction ◽  
High Sequence Similarity ◽  
Copper Transporter ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Arbitrarily Primed Pcr

ABSTRACT RNA fingerprinting by arbitrarily primed PCR was used to isolateSinorhizobium meliloti genes regulated during the symbiotic interaction with alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Sixteen partial cDNAs were isolated whose corresponding genes were differentially expressed between symbiotic and free-living conditions. Thirteen sequences corresponded to genes up-regulated during symbiosis, whereas three were instead repressed during establishment of the symbiotic interaction. Seven cDNAs corresponded to known or predictednif and fix genes. Four presented high sequence similarity with genes not yet identified in S. meliloti, including genes encoding a component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, a cell surface protein component, a copper transporter, and an argininosuccinate lyase. Finally, five cDNAs did not exhibit any similarity with sequences present in databases. A detailed expression analysis of the nine non-nif-fix genes provided evidence for an unexpected variety of regulatory patterns, most of which have not been described so far.

scholarly journals Enhanced Biofilm Formation and Loss of Capsule Synthesis: Deletion of a Putative Glycosyltransferase in Porphyromonas gingivalis

2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (15) ◽  
pp. 5510-5523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Davey ◽  
Margaret J. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Porphyromonas Gingivalis ◽  
Biofilm Formation ◽  
Capsular Polysaccharide ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Opportunistic Pathogen ◽  
Insertion Mutant ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
High Sequence Similarity ◽  
Biofilm Development

ABSTRACT Periodontitis is a biofilm-mediated disease. Porphyromonas gingivalis is an obligate anaerobe consistently associated with severe manifestations of this disease. As an opportunistic pathogen, the ability to proliferate within and disseminate from subgingival biofilm (plaque) is central to its virulence. Here, we report the isolation of a P. gingivalis transposon insertion mutant altered in biofilm development and the reconstruction and characterization of this mutation in three different wild-type strains. The mutation responsible for the altered biofilm phenotype was in a gene with high sequence similarity (∼61%) to a glycosyltransferase gene. The gene is located in a region of the chromosome that includes up to 16 genes predicted to be involved in the synthesis and transport of capsular polysaccharide. The phenotype of the reconstructed mutation in all three wild-type backgrounds is that of enhanced biofilm formation. In addition, in strain W83, a strain that is encapsulated, the glycosyltransferase mutation resulted in a loss of capsule. Further experiments showed that the W83 mutant strain was more hydrophobic and exhibited increased autoaggregation. Our results indicate that we have identified a gene involved in capsular-polysaccharide synthesis in P. gingivalis and that the production of capsule prevented attachment and the initiation of in vitro biofilm formation on polystyrene microtiter plates.

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