Horizontal transfer of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis.

ABSTRACT: The horizontal transfer of genetic elements plays a major role in bacterial evolution. The high-pathogenicity island (HPI), which codes for an iron uptake system, is present and highly conserved in various Enterobacteriaceae, suggesting its recent acquisition by lateral gene transfer. The aim of this work was to determine whether the HPI has kept its ability to be transmitted horizontally. We demonstrate here that the HPI is indeed transferable from a donor to a recipient Yersinia pseudotuberculosis strain. This transfer was observable only when the donor and recipient bacteria were cocultured at low temperatures in a liquid medium. When optimized conditions were used (bacteria actively growing in an iron-deprived medium at 4 degrees C), the frequency of HPI transfer reached approximately

SUBMITTER: Lesic B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1112006 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature