Interkingdom Horizontal Gene Transfer—a hot topic in recent years

Ancient Horizontal Gene Transfer from Bacteria Enhances Biosynthetic Capabilities of Fungi
Schmitt I, Lumbsch HT (2009) PLoS ONE 4(2): e4437. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004437


Until recently, the studies of gene transfer have been mostly focused on prokaryotes, and the process of gene transfer is assumed to be of limited significance to eukaryotes. The availability of diverse eukaryotic genome sequence data is dramatically changing our views on the important role gene transfer can play in eukaryotic evolution. The rapid increase in fungal sequence data has promoted this kingdom to the forefront of comparative genomics. As a result, interkingdom HGT became a hot topic in recent years. Whereas there is very few documented evidence for interkingdom HGT, but they did happen. Here, we will present an ancient interkingdom HGT event between bacteria and fungi.

The targeted gene discussed here is the polyketide synthase (PKSs) genes, which involved in antibiotic and mycotoxin production. Polyketides are natural products with a wide range of biological functions and pharmaceutical applications. Discovery and utilization of polyketides can be facilitated by understanding the evolutionary processes that gave rise to the biosynthetic machinery and the natural product potential of extant organisms.

Bacteria and fungi commonly harbor a group of PKSs that consists of a single protein complex carrying all catalytic sites (typeI PKS). In this paper, the authors are focusing on a clade of fungal type I PKSs gene which is closely related to bacterial PKSs. Since 6-methylsalicylic acid synthase (6-MSAS) was the first PKS in this group to be characterized, this clade is also termed as‘‘6-MSAS-type PKS’’. The lichenized fungi, which are characterized by a sophisticated vegetative morphology and a rich polyketide metabolism, were selected as the research materials in this study. The total genomic DNA of the lichenized fungi, which collected from 12 different countries, were extracted, and then the KS domain of fungal 6MSAS-type PKS genes were amplified by a degenerate primer pair, LC3 and LC5c. The amplified fragments were cloned and sequenced, and then all sequences were subjected to BLAST searches. The alignment was analyzed in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework using MrBayes 3.1. The tree resulting from this analysis was used to determine the PKS clades most closely related to the fungal 6-MSAS group. To evaluate potential problems with outgroup selection, three alignments including different outgroups were compared.

As a result, 24 6-MSA synthase sequence tags from lichen-forming fungi were generated. The results from comparative phylogenetics support an ancient horizontal gene transfer event from an actinobacterial source into ascomycete fungi, followed by gene duplication. In the Discussion, the authors inferred that the evolution of typical lichen compounds, such as orsellinic acid derivatives, was facilitated by the gain of this bacterial polyketide synthase. Given that actinobacteria are unrivaled producers of biologically active compounds, such as antibiotics, it appears particularly promising to study biosynthetic genes of actinobacterial origin in fungi.

This study revealed the phylogenetic origin of the enigmatic fungal 6-MSAS-type PKS biosynthetic gene using comparative analysis. The results provide statistical support to the hypothesis that this PKS was transferred from an actinobacterial source into ascomycete fungi during an ancient HGT event. They also report the finding of 6-MSAS-type PKS genes in a variety of lichen-forming fungi, and speculate about the possible role of lichen symbionts in the evolution of this gene. Overall, this paper added solid evidence to the fact of interkingdom HGT.


Hui Li Ph.D University of Idaho

Plasmid-mediated multiple antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in crude and treated wastewater used in agriculture.

Plasmid-mediated multiple antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in crude and treated wastewater used in agriculture.

S. Pignato, M. A. Coniglio, G. Faro, F. X. Weill and G. Giammanco
Journal of Water and Health Vol 07 No 2 pp 251–258

Antibiotic resistant bacteria strains are permanent threat to human populations. Genes encoding antibiotic resistance are commonly located on mobile genetic elements like bacterial plasmids. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) occurs in the environmental condition. The main mechanism of HGT seems to be bacterial conjugation. This process requires direct contact between plasmid bearing, donor strain and plasmid free recipients. The frequency of conjugation depends on a number of different factors. One of them is the cell density. As we could imagine possibility of meeting of two bacterial cells living in 1ml of water is much lower than if there are millions of different cells occupying the same volume. Density of bacterial populations in environmental samples varies markedly depending on sampling sites. Usually is not very high ~106 cfu/ml. One of the places where bacterial population reaches high densities are wastewater treatment plants. So study of spread antibiotic resistance encoding bacterial plasmids in the waste water is very important.
In presented paper authors pointed out that the guidelines for cleaning water used for irrigation requires treatments to remove pathogens that can cause enteric infections for crop consumers, producers and handlers. According to the microbiological guidelines for safe use of wastewater in agriculture developed by the World Health Organization(WHO) less than 0.1 intestinal nematode eggs must be detected in 1 litre, while up to 1,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 ml can be tolerated for unrestricted irrigation. In the United States, much stricter wastewater quality standards for irrigation are recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency but, lacking federal standards for the quality of reclaimed water, individual states have developed guidelines mainly based on the daily monitoring of faecal coliform bacteria on a single, 100-ml sample, assuming a predictive relationship between indicator microorganisms and pathogen presence.
Although wastewater treatments proved to be effective in eliminating Salmonella spp. and in reaching WHO microbiological standards for safe use of wastewater in agriculture, they were ineffective in reducing significantly the frequency of plasmid-mediated multiple antibiotic resistance in surviving E. coli.
It was shown that 22.71%, 19.41%, 16.84% and 14.28% out of 273 isolates were resistant respectively to ampicillin, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, and streptomycin. Some other antibiotic resistant strains were detected at low frequency (trimetoprim – 9.15%; nalidixic acid – 8%; chloramphenicol – 5.12% and kanamycin – 2.93%). Also multiple antibiotic resistance was present in 24.17% of the isolates. Antibiotic resistance was detected to be transferred by conjugation from 54% resistant strains. Three different plasmids with the sizes of 125kb, 54kb and 60kb were isolated from those strains. Also some other mobile elements like class 1 integrons were detected in resistant strains.

Since multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria carrying integrons and conjugative R plasmids can constitute a reservoir of antibiotic-resistance genes in wastewater reclaimed for irrigation, risks for public health should be considered. Bacterial strains carrying R plasmids and integrons could contaminate crops irrigated with reclaimed wastewater and transfer their resistances to the consumers’ intestinal bacteria. So we should remember to wash every vegetables and fruits before we will eat them…

Jarek Krol
UofI

Competition favors reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

Rembrandt J. F. Haft, John E. Mittler, and Beth Traxler

The ISME Journal (2009) 3, 761-769

When it comes to their relationship with their hosts it can sometimes be difficult to define what plasmids are. They often encode beneficial traits that can be useful, or even vitally necessary, for their host bacteria. A bacterium that finds itself in the gut of a patient taking antibiotics, for instance, may require plasmid-encoded resistance in order to survive. However, despite the potential usefulness of a given plasmid, plasmid carriage also comes with certain costs. In certain environments the same plasmid that used to be essential for survival can become a burden to its host due to the energy required of the host for plasmid maintenance and upkeep. In such circumstances plasmids can be viewed as parasitic; they need the host to survive but only confer costs, not benefits, to the host. Many plasmids have therefore developed clever ways with which to ensure their survival in bacterial populations, even in the absence of external selective pressures for plasmid maintenance (e.g. the presence of antibiotics).

It’s easy to imagine that in the absence of such selective pressures plasmid-free bacteria would out-compete plasmid-bearing cells. Through vertical inheritance alone this would ensure the eventual loss of plasmids from a mixed population of plasmid-bearing and free cells. One tool that most plasmids have to combat this loss is the ability to pass copies of themselves to neighboring cells via the horizontal gene transfer mechanism of conjugation. Conjugation allows plasmids to infect new hosts such that even in the absence of selection plasmids can survive in a population, even as they reduce the fitness of their hosts. Yet many plasmids have developed systems that inhibit their own horizontal transfer. The authors of this paper used a combination of mathematical models and laboratory experiments to determine when and why a plasmid might benefit in repressing, rather than promoting, their own conjugation.

What the authors predicted in their models (and confirmed in their experiments) is that by reducing transfer frequency plasmids can also reduce the cost that they’re imposing on their hosts. While plasmids that don’t repress conjugation will spread through a bacterial population more quickly on their own than plasmids with functioning repression systems, when both types of plasmids are present the latter will eventually take become dominant. This is because in limiting their horizontal transfer they give the competitive edge to their hosts, which will be more fit and grow faster than the bacteria harboring the plasmids that transfer more frequently, and consequently these transfer-limited plasmids are spread mainly through vertical transfer.

This paper not only elucidates the mystery of the persistence of transfer repression systems in plasmids, but also has broader applications to parasitic strategies in general. The authors point out that for many parasites being slightly less virulent gives some parasites a competitive advantage over those that kill their host before they are able to spread to a new one. The mathematical model that they developed could therefore be applied to a much large scope of systems, of which plasmid transfer is just one.

Additional Reading:

Bahl MI, Hansen LH, Sorensen SJ. (2007). Impact of conjugal transfer on the stability of IncP-1 plasmid pKJK5 in bacterial populations. FEMS Microbiol Lett 266: 250-6.

De Gelder L, Ponciano JM, Joyce P, Top EM. (2007). Stability of a promiscuous plasmid in

different hosts: no guarantee for a long-term relationship. Microbiology 153: 452-63.

Dionisio F. (2005). Plasmids survive despite their cost and male-specific-phages due to

heterogeneity of bacterial populations. Evolution Ecol Res 7: 1-19.

Freter R, Freter RR, Brickner H. (1983). Experimental and mathematical models of

Escherichia coli plasmid transfer in vitro and in vivo. Infect Immun 39: 60-84.

Kerr B, Neuhauser C, Bohannan BJ, Dean AM. (2006). Local migration promotes competitive

restraint in a host-pathogen 'tragedy of the commons'. Nature 442: 75-8.

Kover PX, Clay K. (1998). Trade-off between virulence and vertical transmission and the

maintenance of a virulent plant pathogen. Am Nat 152: 165-175.

Turner PE, Cooper VS, Lenski RE. (1998). Tradeoff between horizontal and vertical modes of transmission in bacterial plasmids. Evolution 52: 315-329.

Julie Hughes

University of Idaho