Mobile Type VI secretion system loci of the gut Bacteroidales display extensive intra-ecosystem transfer, multi-species spread and geographical clustering.

ABSTRACT: The human gut microbiota is a dense microbial ecosystem with extensive opportunities for bacterial contact-dependent processes such as conjugation and Type VI secretion system (T6SS)-dependent antagonism. In the gut Bacteroidales, two distinct genetic architectures of T6SS loci, GA1 and GA2, are contained on Integrative and Conjugative Elements (ICE). Despite intense interest in the T6SSs of the gut Bacteroidales, there is only a superficial understanding of their evolutionary patterns, and of their dissemination among Bacteroidales species in human gut communities. Here, we combine extensive genomic and metagenomic analyses to better understand their ecological and evolutionary dynamics. We identify new genetic subtypes, document extensive intrapersonal transfer of these ICE to Bacteroida

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Bayona L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8102008 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature