The evolutionary history of chromosomal super-integrons provides an ancestry for multiresistant integrons.

ABSTRACT: Integrons are genetic elements that acquire and exchange exogenous DNA, known as gene cassettes, by a site-specific recombination mechanism. Characterized gene cassettes consist of a target recombination sequence (attC site) usually associated with a single open reading frame coding for an antibiotic resistance determinant. The affiliation of multiresistant integrons (MRIs), which contain various combinations of antibiotic resistance gene cassettes, with transferable elements underlies the rapid evolution of multidrug resistance among diverse Gram-negative bacteria. Yet the origin of MRIs remains unknown. Recently, a chromosomal super-integron (SI) harboring hundreds of cassettes was identified in the Vibrio cholerae genome. Here, we demonstrate that the activity of its associated integras

SUBMITTER: Rowe-Magnus DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC14643 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature