Dataset Information

Gene expression system in green sulfur bacteria by conjugative plasmid transfer.

ABSTRACT: Gene transfer and expression systems in green sulfur bacteria were established by bacterial conjugation with Escherichia coli. Conjugative plasmid transfer from E. coli S17-1 to a thermophilic green sulfur bacterium, Chlorobaculum tepidum (formerly Chlorobium tepidum) WT2321, was executed with RSF1010-derivative broad-host-range plasmids, named pDSK5191 and pDSK5192, that confer erythromycin and streptomycin/spectinomycin resistance, respectively. The transconjugants harboring these plasmids were reproducibly obtained at a frequency of approximately 10(-5) by selection with erythromycin and a combination of streptomycin and spectinomycin, respectively. These plasmids were stably maintained in C. tepidum cells in the presence of these antibiotics. The plasmid transfer to another mesophilic green sulfur bacterium, C. limnaeum (formerly Chlorobium phaeobacteroides) RK-j-1, was also achieved with pDSK5192. The expression plasmid based on pDSK5191 was constructed by incorporating the upstream and downstream regions of the pscAB gene cluster on the C. tepidum genome, since these regions were considered to include a constitutive promoter and a ?-independent terminator, respectively. Growth defections of the ?cycA and ?soxB mutants were completely rescued after introduction of pDSK5191-cycA and -soxB that were designed to express their complementary genes. On the other hand, pDSK5191-6xhis-pscAB, which incorporated the gene cluster of 6xhis-pscA and pscB, produced approximately four times more of the photosynthetic reaction center complex with His-tagged PscA as compared with that expressed in the genome by the conventional natural transformation method. This expression system, based on conjugative plasmid, would be applicable to general molecular biological studies of green sulfur bacteria.

SUBMITTER: Azai C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3842273 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Gene expression system in green sulfur bacteria by conjugative plasmid transfer.

Azai Chihiro C Harada Jiro J Hirozo Oh-oka OO

PloS one 20131127 11

Gene transfer and expression systems in green sulfur bacteria were established by bacterial conjugation with Escherichia coli. Conjugative plasmid transfer from E. coli S17-1 to a thermophilic green sulfur bacterium, Chlorobaculum tepidum (formerly Chlorobium tepidum) WT2321, was executed with RSF1010-derivative broad-host-range plasmids, named pDSK5191 and pDSK5192, that confer erythromycin and streptomycin/spectinomycin resistance, respectively. The transconjugants harboring these plasmids wer ...[more]

PMID: 24312414

Similar Datasets

Project description:Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) regularly enter aquatic environments due to their ubiquity in consumer products and engineering applications. However, the effects of MWCNT pollution on the environmental microbiome are poorly understood. Here, we evaluated whether these carbon nanoparticles can elevate the spread of antimicrobial resistance by promoting bacterial plasmid transfer, which has previously been observed for copper nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties as well as for microplastics. Through a combination of experimental liquid mating assays between Pseudomonas putida donor and recipient strains with plasmid pKJK5::gfpmut3b and mathematical modeling, we here demonstrate that the presence of MWCNTs leads to increased plasmid transfer rates in a concentration-dependent manner. The percentage of transconjugants per recipient significantly increased from 0.21 ± 0.04% in absence to 0.41 ± 0.09% at 10 mg L-1 MWCNTs. Similar trends were observed when using an Escherichia coli donor hosting plasmid pB10. The identified mechanism underlying the observed dynamics was the agglomeration of MWCNTs. A significantly increased number of particles with >6 μm diameter was detected in the presence of MWCNTs, which can in turn provide novel surfaces for bacterial interactions between donor and recipient cells after colonization. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed that MWCNT agglomerates were indeed covered in biofilms that contained donor bacteria as well as elevated numbers of green fluorescent transconjugant cells containing the plasmid. Consequently, MWCNTs provide bacteria with novel surfaces for intense cell-to-cell interactions in biofilms and can promote bacterial plasmid transfer, hence potentially elevating the spread of antimicrobial resistance. IMPORTANCE In recent decades, the use of carbon nanoparticles, especially multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), in a variety of products and engineering applications has been growing exponentially. As a result, MWCNT pollution into environmental compartments has been increasing. We here demonstrate that the exposure to MWCNTs can affect bacterial plasmid transfer rates in aquatic environments, an important process connected to the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes in microbial communities. This is mechanistically explained by the ability of MWCNTs to form bigger agglomerates, hence providing novel surfaces for bacterial interactions. Consequently, increasing pollution with MWCNTs has the potential to elevate the ongoing spread of antimicrobial resistance, a major threat to human health in the 21st century.

Project description:Conjugative plasmids are the main players in horizontal gene transfer in Gram-negative bacteria. DNA transfer tools constructed on the basis of such plasmids enable gene manipulation even in strains of clinical or environmental origin, which are often difficult to work with. The conjugation system of the IncM plasmid pCTX-M3 isolated from a clinical strain of Citrobacter freundii has been shown to enable efficient mobilization of oriT pCTX-M3-bearing plasmids into a broad range of hosts comprising Alpha-, Beta-, and Gammaproteobacteria We constructed a helper plasmid, pMOBS, mediating such mobilization with an efficiency up to 1,000-fold higher than that achieved with native pCTX-M3. We also constructed Escherichia coli donor strains with chromosome-integrated conjugative transfer genes: S14 and S15, devoid of one putative regulator (orf35) of the pCTX-M3 tra genes, and S25 and S26, devoid of two putative regulators (orf35 and orf36) of the pCTX-M3 tra genes. Strains S14 and S15 and strains S25 and S26 are, respectively, up to 100 and 1,000 times more efficient in mobilization than pCTX-M3. Moreover, they also enable plasmid mobilization into the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Lactococcus lactis Additionally, the constructed E. coli strains carried no antibiotic resistance genes that are present in pCTX-M3 to facilitate manipulations with antibiotic-resistant recipient strains, such as those of clinical origin. To demonstrate possible application of the constructed tool, an antibacterial conjugation-based system was designed. Strain S26 was used for introduction of a mobilizable plasmid coding for a toxin, resulting in the elimination of over 90% of recipient E. coli cells.IMPORTANCE The conjugation of donor and recipient bacterial cells resulting in conjugative transfer of mobilizable plasmids is the preferred method enabling the introduction of DNA into strains for which other transfer methods are difficult to establish (e.g., clinical strains). We have constructed E. coli strains carrying the conjugation system of the IncM plasmid pCTX-M3 integrated into the chromosome. To increase the mobilization efficiency up to 1,000-fold, two putative regulators of this system, orf35 and orf36, were disabled. The constructed strains broaden the repertoire of tools for the introduction of DNA into the Gram-negative Alpha-, Beta-, and Gammaproteobacteria, as well as into Gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Lactococcus lactis The antibacterial procedure based on conjugation with the use of the orf35- and orf36-deficient strain lowered the recipient cell number by over 90% owing to the mobilizable plasmid-encoded toxin.

Dataset Information

Gene expression system in green sulfur bacteria by conjugative plasmid transfer.

Publications

Gene expression system in green sulfur bacteria by conjugative plasmid transfer.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets