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Plasmids of carotenoid-producing Paracoccus spp. (Alphaproteobacteria) - structure, diversity and evolution.
- Source :
-
PloS one [PLoS One] 2013 Nov 08; Vol. 8 (11), pp. e80258. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Nov 08 (Print Publication: 2013). - Publication Year :
- 2013
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Abstract
- Plasmids are components of many bacterial genomes. They enable the spread of a large pool of genetic information via lateral gene transfer. Many bacterial strains contain mega-sized replicons and these are particularly common in Alphaproteobacteria. Considerably less is known about smaller alphaproteobacterial plasmids. We analyzed the genomes of 14 such plasmids residing in 4 multireplicon carotenoid-producing strains of the genus Paracoccus (Alphaproteobacteria): P. aestuarii DSM 19484, P. haeundaensis LG P-21903, P. marcusii DSM 11574 and P. marcusii OS22. Comparative analyses revealed mosaic structures of the plasmids and recombinational shuffling of diverse genetic modules involved in (i) plasmid replication, (ii) stabilization (including toxin-antitoxin systems of the relBE/parDE, tad-ata, higBA, mazEF and toxBA families) and (iii) mobilization for conjugal transfer (encoding relaxases of the MobQ, MobP or MobV families). A common feature of the majority of the plasmids is the presence of AT-rich sequence islets (located downstream of exc1-like genes) containing genes, whose homologs are conserved in the chromosomes of many bacteria (encoding e.g. RelA/SpoT, SMC-like proteins and a retron-type reverse transcriptase). The results of this study have provided insight into the diversity and plasticity of plasmids of Paracoccus spp., and of the entire Alphaproteobacteria. Some of the identified plasmids contain replication systems not described previously in this class of bacteria. The composition of the plasmid genomes revealed frequent transfer of chromosomal genes into plasmids, which significantly enriches the pool of mobile DNA that can participate in lateral transfer. Many strains of Paracoccus spp. have great biotechnological potential, and the plasmid vectors constructed in this study will facilitate genetic studies of these bacteria.
- Subjects :
- Biological Evolution
Conjugation, Genetic genetics
DNA Replication genetics
Gene Transfer, Horizontal genetics
Genetic Variation genetics
Genetic Vectors genetics
Genome, Bacterial genetics
Alphaproteobacteria genetics
Alphaproteobacteria metabolism
Carotenoids genetics
Carotenoids metabolism
Paracoccus genetics
Paracoccus metabolism
Plasmids genetics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1932-6203
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- PloS one
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 24260361
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080258