Natural Transformation as a Mechanism of Horizontal Gene Transfer in Aliarcobacter butzleri
| Autor: | Ana Paula Duarte, Mónica Oleastro, Emanuel Maldonado, Fernanda C. Domingues, Ana Ruivo Alves, Susana Ferreira, Cristiana Mateus, Marina Bonifácio |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Microbiology (medical)
Biology Genome Article Transformation 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound Immunology and Allergy natural competence Aliarcobacter butzleri Molecular Biology Gene 030304 developmental biology Genetics 0303 health sciences Genetic diversity General Immunology and Microbiology Strain (chemistry) 030306 microbiology transformation Natural competence Natural Competence Transformation (genetics) Infecções Gastrointestinais Infectious Diseases chemistry Horizontal gene transfer Medicine DNA |
| Zdroj: | Pathogens, Vol 10, Iss 909, p 909 (2021) Pathogens Volume 10 Issue 7 |
| ISSN: | 2076-0817 |
| Popis: | (This article belongs to the Collection New Insights into Bacterial Pathogenesis) Aliarcobacter butzleri is an emergent enteropathogen, showing high genetic diversity, which likely contributes to its adaptive capacity to different environments. Whether natural transformation can be a mechanism that generates genetic diversity in A. butzleri is still unknown. In the present study, we aimed to establish if A. butzleri is naturally competent for transformation and to investigate the factors influencing this process. Two different transformation procedures were tested using exogenous and isogenic DNA containing antibiotic resistance markers, and different external conditions influencing the process were evaluated. The highest number of transformable A. butzleri strains were obtained with the agar transformation method when compared to the biphasic system (65% versus 47%). A. butzleri was able to uptake isogenic chromosomal DNA at different growth phases, and the competence state was maintained from the exponential to the stationary phases. Overall, the optimal conditions for transformation with the biphasic system were the use of 1 μg of isogenic DNA and incubation at 30 °C under a microaerobic atmosphere, resulting in a transformation frequency ~8 × 10-6 transformants/CFU. We also observed that A. butzleri favored the transformation with the genetic material of its own strain/species, with the DNA incorporation process occurring promptly after the addition of genomic material. In addition, we observed that A. butzleri strains could exchange genetic material in co-culture assays. The presence of homologs of well-known genes involved in the competence in the A. butzleri genome corroborates the natural competence of this species. In conclusion, our results show that A. butzleri is a naturally transformable species, suggesting that horizontal gene transfer mediated by natural transformation is one of the processes contributing to its genetic diversity. In addition, natural transformation can be used as a tool for genetic studies of this species. This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through funds from the State Budget, and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the Portugal 2020 Program, through the Regional Operational Program of the Center (Centro2020), through the Project with the reference UIDB/00709/2020. This work was also funded by the operation CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000019 – C4 – Centro de Competências em Cloud Computing, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program of the Center (Centro2020). Cristiana Mateus is the recipient of a doctoral fellowship (UI/BD/151023/2021) under the scope of the CICS-UBI Programmatic Funding (UIDP/00709/2020). Susana Ferreira acknowledges the Universidade da Beira Interior and FCT by the contract of Scientific Employment according to DL57/2016. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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