Mobilization of genomic islands of Staphylococcus aureus by temperate bacteriophage

Moon, B.Y., Park, J.Y., Robinson, D.A., Thomas, J.C. ORCID: 0000-0002-1599-9123, Park, Y.H., Thornton, J.A. and Seo, K.S., 2016. Mobilization of genomic islands of Staphylococcus aureus by temperate bacteriophage. PLOS ONE, 11 (3): e0151409. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

The virulence of Staphylococcus aureus, in both human and animal hosts, is largely influenced by the acquisition of mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Most S. aureus strains carry a variety of MGEs, including three genomic islands (νSaα, νSaβ, νSaγ) that are diverse in virulence gene content but conserved within strain lineages. Although the mobilization of pathogenicity islands, phages and plasmids has been well studied, the mobilization of genomic islands is poorly understood. We previously demonstrated the mobilization of νSaβ by the adjacent temperate bacteriophage ϕSaBov from strain RF122. In this study, we demonstrate that ϕSaBov mediates the mobilization of νSaα and νSaγ, which are located remotely from ϕSaBov, mostly to recipient strains belonging to ST151. Phage DNA sequence analysis revealed that chromosomal DNA excision events from RF122 were highly specific to MGEs, suggesting sequence-specific DNA excision and packaging events rather than generalized transduction by a temperate phage. Disruption of the int gene in ϕSaBov did not affect phage DNA excision, packaging, and integration events. However, disruption of the terL gene completely abolished phage DNA packing events, suggesting that the primary function of temperate phage in the transfer of genomic islands is to allow for phage DNA packaging by TerL and that transducing phage particles are the actual vehicle for transfer. These results extend our understanding of the important role of bacteriophage in the horizontal transfer and evolution of genomic islands in S. aureus.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: PLOS ONE
Creators: Moon, B.Y., Park, J.Y., Robinson, D.A., Thomas, J.C., Park, Y.H., Thornton, J.A. and Seo, K.S.
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Date: 2016
Volume: 11
Number: 3
ISSN: 1932-6203
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1371/journal.pone.0151409DOI
Rights: © 2016 Moon et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Divisions: Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 11 Apr 2018 08:13
Last Modified: 13 Jul 2023 09:49
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33248

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