JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hochhut, B.
Right arrow Articles by Waldor, M. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hochhut, B.
Right arrow Articles by Waldor, M. K.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 1124-1132, Vol. 183, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.4.1124-1132.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Formation of Chromosomal Tandem Arrays of the SXT Element and R391, Two Conjugative Chromosomally Integrating Elements That Share an Attachment Site

Bianca Hochhut,1,2 John W. Beaber,1 Roger Woodgate,3 and Matthew K. Waldor1,2,*

Division of Geographic Medicine/Infectious Diseases, New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine,1 and Howard Hughes Medical Institute,2 Boston, Massachusetts 02111, and Section on DNA Replication, Repair and Mutagenesis, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 208923

Received 8 September 2000/Accepted 17 November 2000

The SXT element, a conjugative, self-transmissible, integrating element (a constin) originally derived from a Vibrio cholerae O139 isolate from India, and IncJ element R391, originally derived from a South African Providencia rettgeri isolate, were found to be genetically and functionally related. Both of these constins integrate site specifically into the Escherichia coli chromosome at an identical attachment site within the 5' end of prfC. They encode nearly identical integrases, which are required for chromosomal integration, excision, and extrachromosomal circularization of these elements, and they have similar tra genes. Therefore, these closely related constins have virtually identical mechanisms for chromosomal integration and dissemination. The presence of either element in a recipient cell did not significantly reduce its ability to acquire the other element, indicating that R391 and SXT do not encode surface exclusion determinants. In cells harboring both elements, SXT and R391 were integrated in tandem fashion on the chromosome, and homologous recombination appeared to play little or no role in the formation of these arrays. Interference between R391 and SXT was detected by measuring the frequency of loss of an unselected resident element upon introduction of a second selected element. In these assays, R391 was found to have a stronger effect on SXT stability than vice versa. The level of expression and/or activity of the donor and recipient integrases may play a role in the interference between these two related constins.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Geographic Medicine/Infectious Diseases, New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, NEMC 041, 750 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111. Phone: (617) 636-7618. Fax: (617) 636 5292. E-mail: mwaldor{at}lifespan.org.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 1124-1132, Vol. 183, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.4.1124-1132.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.