CRISPR regulation of intraspecies diversification by limiting IS transposition and intercellular recombination.

ABSTRACT: Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and genetic rearrangement are considered as major driving forces of bacterial diversification. Previous comparative genome analysis of Porphyromonas gingivalis, a pathogen related to periodontitis, implied such an important relationship. As a counterpart system to MGEs, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) in bacteria may be useful for genetic typing. We found that CRISPR typing could be a reasonable alternative to conventional methods for characterizing phylogenetic relationships among 60 highly diverse P. gingivalis isolates. Examination of genetic recombination along with multilocus sequence typing suggests the importance of such events between different isolates. MGEs appear to be strategically located at the breakpoint gaps

SUBMITTER: Watanabe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3698921 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature