Toxin-Antitoxin Systems Reflect Community Interactions Through Horizontal Gene Transfer.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial evolution through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) reflects their community interactions. In this way, HGT networks do well at mapping community interactions, but offer little toward controlling them-an important step in the translation of synthetic strains into natural contexts. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems serve as ubiquitous and diverse agents of selection; however, their utility is limited by their erratic distribution in hosts. Here we examine the heterogeneous distribution of TAs as a consequence of their mobility. By systematically mapping TA systems across a 10,000 plasmid network, we find HGT communities have unique and predictable TA signatures. We propose these TA signatures arise from plasmid competition and have further potential to signal the degree to which plasmids,

SUBMITTER: Bethke JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11523183 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature