IncI shufflons: Assembly issues in the next-generation sequencing era
Publication date: Available online 4 May 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Michael S.M. Brouwer , Kaitlin A. Tagg , Dik J. Mevius , Jonathan R. Iredell , Alex Bossers , Hilde E. Smith , Sally R. Partridge The shufflon is a site-specific recombination system first identified in the IncI1 plasmid R64. The R64 shufflon consists of four segments, separated by short repeats, which are rearranged and inverted by the recombinase protein Rci, generating diversity in the C-terminal end of the PilV protein. PilV is the tip adhesin of the thin pilus structure involved in bacterial conjugation and may play a role in determinin...
Source: Plasmid - May 5, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Nucleoid-associated proteins encoded on plasmids: occurrence and mode of function
Publication date: Available online 4 May 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Masaki Shintani , Chiho Suzuki-Minakuchi , Hideaki Nojiri Nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs) play a role in changing the shape of microbial DNA, making it more compact and affecting the regulation of transcriptional networks in host cells. Genes that encode NAPs include H-NS family proteins (H-NS, Ler, MvaT, BpH3, Bv3F, HvrA, and Lsr2), FIS, HU, IHF, Lrp, and NdpA, and are found in both microbial chromosomes and plasmid DNA. In the present study, NAP genes were distributed among 442 plasmids out of 4,602 plasmid sequences, and many H-NS family ...
Source: Plasmid - May 4, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Plasmid partitioning systems of conjugative plasmids from Clostridium perfringens
Publication date: Available online 27 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Vicki Adams , Thomas D. Watts , Dieter M. Bulach , Dena Lyras , Julian I. Rood Many pathogenic strains of Clostridium perfringens carry several highly similar toxin or antibiotic resistance plasmids that have 35 to 40 kb of very closely related syntenous sequences, including regions that carry the genes encoding conjugative transfer, plasmid replication and plasmid maintenance functions. Key questions are how are these closely related plasmids stably maintained in the same cell and what is the basis for plasmid incompatibility in C. perfri...
Source: Plasmid - April 28, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Extrachromosomal and integrated genetic elements in clostridium difficile
Publication date: Available online 27 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Jacob Amy , Priscilla Johanesen , Dena Lyras Clostridium difficile is a major nosocomial pathogen, causing gastrointestinal disease in patients undergoing antibiotic therapy. This bacterium contains many extrachromosomal and integrated genetic elements, with recent genomic work giving new insights into their variability and distribution. This review summarises research conducted in this area over the last thirty years and includes a discussion on the functional contributions of these elements to host cell phenotypes, as well as encompassing ...
Source: Plasmid - April 28, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Different IncI1 plasmids from Escherichia coli carry ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-15 associated with different Tn2-derived elements.
Publication date: Available online 27 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Zhiyong Zong , Andrew N. Ginn , Hana Dobiasova , Jonathan R. Iredell , Sally R. Partridge The bla CTX-M-15 gene, encoding the globally-dominant CTX-M-15 extended-spectrum β-lactamase, has generally been found in a 2.971-kb ISEcp1-bla CTX-M-15-orf477Δ transposition unit, with ISEcp1 providing a promoter. In available IncF plasmid sequences from Escherichia coli this transposition unit interrupts a truncated copy of transposon Tn2 that lies within larger multiresistance regions. In E. coli bla CTX-M-15 is also commonly associated with IncI1...
Source: Plasmid - April 28, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Tn6026 and Tn6029 are found in complex resistance regions mobilized by diverse plasmids and chromosomal islands in multiple antibiotic resistant Enterobacteriaceae
Publication date: Available online 24 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Cameron Reid , Piklu Roy Chowdhury , Steven P. Djordjevic Transposons flanked by direct copies of IS26 are important contributors to the evolution of multiple antibiotic resistance. Tn6029 and Tn6026 are examples of composite transposons that have become widely disseminated on small and large plasmids with different incompatibility markers in pathogenic and commensal Escherichia coli and various serovars of Salmonella enterica. Some of the plasmids that harbour these transposons also carry combinations of virulence genes. Recently Tn6029 and ...
Source: Plasmid - April 25, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
The A to Z of A/C Plasmids
Publication date: Available online 21 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Christopher J. Harmer , Ruth M. Hall Plasmids belonging to incompatibility groups A and C (now A/C) were among the earliest to be associated with antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. A/C plasmids are large, conjugative plasmids with a broad host range. The prevalence of A/C plasmids in collections of clinical isolates has revealed their importance in the dissemination of extended-spectrum β-lactamases and carbapenemases. They also mobilize SGI1-type resistance islands. Revived interest in the family has yielded many complete A/C p...
Source: Plasmid - April 22, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
A novel HAC1-based Dual-Luciferase Reporter Vector for detecting endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
In this study, we developed a dual-luciferase gene reporter system to monitor UPR activation in live cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by taking advantage of the HAC1 intron and its unconventional splicing-regulation mechanism. We showed that this reporter can be used to monitor UPR in live cells with high sensitivity. (Source: Plasmid)
Source: Plasmid - April 21, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Construction of a shuttle vector based on the small cryptic plasmid pJY33 from Weissella cibaria 33
Publication date: Available online 13 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Ji Yeong Park , Seon-Ju Jeong , Hyun Deok Sa , Jae Yong Lee , Xiaoming Liu , Min Jeong Cho , Kang Wook Lee , Jeong Hwan Kim A cryptic plasmid, pJY33, from Weissella cibaria 33 was characterized. pJY33 was 2365 bp in size with a GC content of 41.27% and contained two putative open reading frames (ORFs). orf1 encoded a putative hypothetical protein of 134 amino acids. orf2 was 849 bp in size, and its putative translation product exhibited 87% identity with a replication initiation factor from a plasmid from W. cibaria KLC140. A Weissella...
Source: Plasmid - April 20, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
pIGWZ12 – a cryptic plasmid with a modular structure
Publication date: Available online 15 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Piotr Zaleski , Paweł Wawrzyniak , Agnieszka Sobolewska , Natalia Łukasiewicz , Piotr Baran , Katarzyna Romańczuk , Katarzyna Daniszewska , Piotr Kierył , Grażyna Płucienniczak , Andrzej Płucienniczak We studied the detailed structure of the cryptic plasmid pIGWZ12, which was isolated from an Escherichia coli strain. pIGWZ12 is composed of two structural modules of distinct evolutionary origin. The REP module, which contains all the features necessary for replication and stable maintenance in the bacterial cell, was assigned by ...
Source: Plasmid - April 20, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Imaging centromere-based incompatibilities: insights into the mechanism of incompatibility mediated by low-copy number plasmids
Publication date: Available online 15 April 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Roxanne Diaz , Jérôme Rech , Jean-Yves Bouet In bacteria, low-copy number plasmids are faithfully segregated at cell division by active partition systems that rely on plasmid-specific centromere sequences. When an identical centromere is present on a second plasmid, faithful partition is impaired causing plasmid loss. Depending on the copy number of the co-resident replicon, several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this centromere-based plasmid incompatibility. To gain further insights into these mechanisms, we analyzed the posi...
Source: Plasmid - April 20, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
The antisense leitmoitf: A prelude
Publication date: March 2015 Source:Plasmid, Volume 78 Author(s): M. Pilar Garcillán-Barcia , Manuel Espinosa (Source: Plasmid)
Source: Plasmid - April 11, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Maintenance and genetic load of plasmid pKON1 of Paracoccus kondratievae, containing a highly efficient toxin–antitoxin module of the hipAB family
Publication date: Available online 6 March 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Jakub Czarnecki , Lukasz Dziewit , Lukasz Kowalski , Magdalena Ochnio , Dariusz Bartosik Paracoccus kondratievae NCIMB 13773T, isolated from the maize rhizosphere, carries a large (95,049 bp) plasmid pKON1, whose structure has been significantly influenced by transposition. Almost 30% of the plasmid genome is composed of complete or truncated insertion sequences (ISs), representing seven IS families. The ISs are accompanied by numerous genes and gene clusters commonly found in bacterial chromosomes, encoding, among others, (i) a putative ...
Source: Plasmid - April 11, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
pXO16 from Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis: Almost 350 kb of terra incognita
Publication date: Available online 11 March 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Lionel Makart , Annika Gillis , Jacques Mahillon Bacillus thuringiensis strains usually harbor large sets of plasmids, some of which carrying the entomopathogenic δ-endotoxins. B. thuringiensis serovar israelensis, active on Dipteran larvae, carries the very large conjugative plasmid pXO16 (350 kb). pXO16 displays a macroscopic aggregation phenotype when liquid cultures of conjugative partners are mixed. Its conjugative apparatus is able of transferring itself and other non-conjugative and non-mobilizable plasmids in a fast and very effic...
Source: Plasmid - April 11, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Corrigendum to sequence determinants for DNA packaging specificity in the S. aureus Pathogenicity Island SaPI1 [Plasmid 71 (2014) 8–15]
Publication date: Available online 25 March 2015 Source:Plasmid Author(s): Joana C. Bento , Kristin D. Lane , Erik K. Read , Nuno Cerca , Gail E. Christie (Source: Plasmid)
Source: Plasmid - April 11, 2015 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
