Mercury resistance transposons in Bacilli strains from different geographical regions

FEMS Microbiology Letters
Kazuaki MatsuiGinro Endo

Abstract

A total of 65 spore-forming mercury-resistant bacteria were isolated from natural environments worldwide in order to understand the acquisition of additional genes by and dissemination of mercury resistance transposons across related Bacilli genera by horizontal gene movement. PCR amplification using a single primer complementary to the inverted repeat sequence of TnMERI1-like transposons showed that 12 of 65 isolates had a transposon-like structure. There were four types of amplified fragments: Tn5084, Tn5085, Tn(d)MER3 (a newly identified deleted transposon-like fragment) and Tn6294 (a newly identified transposon). Tn(d)MER3 is a 3.5-kb sequence that carries a merRETPA operon with no merB or transposase genes. It is related to the mer operon of Bacillus licheniformis strain FA6-12 from Russia. DNA homology analysis shows that Tn6294 is an 8.5-kb sequence that is possibly derived from Tn(d)MER3 by integration of a TnMERI1-type transposase and resolvase genes and in addition the merR2 and merB1 genes. Bacteria harboring Tn6294 exhibited broad-spectrum mercury resistance to organomercurial compounds, although Tn6294 had only merB1 and did not have the merB2 and merB3 sequences for organomercurial lyases found in Tn5084 of B. cer...Continue Reading

References

Dec 1, 1977·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·F SangerA R Coulson
Dec 1, 1994·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·K Nakamura, S Silver
Jan 1, 1996·Annual Review of Microbiology·S Silver, L T Phung
Jun 28, 2003·FEMS Microbiology Reviews·Tamar BarkayAnne O Summers
Feb 1, 2006·Archives of Microbiology·Seralathan Kamala KannanRamaswamy Krishnamoorthy
Jun 15, 2010·Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering·Mei-Fang ChienGinro Endo
Mar 1, 2012·FEMS Microbiology Letters·Cecilia Martínez-RosalesSusana Castro-Sowinski
Jul 25, 2012·Scientific Reports·Nobuyasu YamaguchiMasao Nasu

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Dec 5, 2016·FEMS Microbiology Ecology·Petr Baldrian
Feb 27, 2018·Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology·Kazuaki Matsui, Ginro Endo
Mar 30, 2021·Frontiers in Microbiology·Stephan Schmitz-EsserBienvenido W Cortes

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Antimicrobial Resistance (ASM)

Antimicrobial resistance poses a significant threat to the continued successful use of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of bacterial infections.

Biosynthetic Transformations

Biosyntheic transformtions are multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed processes where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. Simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined together to form macromolecules. Discover the latest research on biosynthetic transformations here.

Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance poses a significant threat to the continued successful use of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of bacterial infections.

CREs: Gene & Cell Therapy

Gene and cell therapy advances have shown promising outcomes for several diseases. The role of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) is crucial in the design of gene therapy vectors. Here is the latest research on CREs in gene and cell therapy.