Mobilization of vitamin B₁₂ transporters alters competitive dynamics in a human gut microbe.

ABSTRACT: The functional and genomic diversity of the human gut microbiome is shaped by horizontal transfer of mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Characterized MGEs can encode genes beneficial for their host's self-defense (e.g., antibiotic resistance) or ability to compete for essential or limited resources (e.g., vitamins). Vitamin B₁₂ and related compounds (corrinoids) are critical nutrients that enable colonization by members of the common gut microbe phylum, the Bacteroidetes. Herein, we identify a distinct class of MGEs in the Bacteroidetes responsible for the mobilization and exchange of the genes required for transport of corrinoids, a group of cyclic tetrapyrrole cofactors including vitamin B₁₂ (btuGBFCD). This class includes two distinct groups of conjugative transposons

SUBMITTER: Frye KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8759732 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature