Project description:An incompatibility P-7 plasmid pCAR1 can be efficiently transferred among artificial microcosms in the presence of divalent cations Ca2+ and Mg2+. One on one mating assays between Pseudomonas strains with different plasmids showed that the promotion of transfer efficiency by divalent cations was also found in other plasmids including pB10 and NAH7, whereas the impacts were larger in IncP-7 plasmids. The impact on pCAR1 transfer altered by different pairs of donor and recipient strains, and the promotion of transfer efficiency was clearly detected between donors P. resinovorans CA10dm4 and P. fluorescens Pf0-1 to the recipients P. putida KT2440 and CA10dm4. Transcriptome analyses showed that genes on the pCAR1 did not respond to the presence of cations, including the tra/trh genes involved in its transfer. Notably, transcriptions of oprH genes, encoding a putative outer membrane proteins, in both of donor and recipient were commonly upregulated under the cation-limited condition. Transfer frequency of the pCAR1 to the transposon mutant of oprH in KT2440 was not promoted by the cations. This effect was partially recovered by the complementation with oprH gene, suggesting that OprH is involved in the promotion the pCAR1 transfer by divalent cations.
Project description:Plasmids are one of the important mobile genetic elements in bacterial evolution. In this study, to evaluate the generality of the impact of plasmid carriage on host cell between different plasmids, we compared the response of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to harboring three natural plasmids; RP4 (IncP-1, multidrug resistance, 60,099-bp), pCAR1 (IncP-7, carbazole-degradative, 200,231-bp) and NAH7 (IncP-9, naphthalene-degradative, 82,232-bp). We prepared two sets of plasmid-harboring strains from independent conjugation events to elucidate the reproducibility of the impact of the plasmid carriage. As results, the fitness was reduced by the carriage of RP4 and pCAR1 in liquid medium, while it was unaffected or even improved for NAH7-harboring strains. RP4-harboring KT2440 formed smaller colonies than the plasmid-free strain on solid medium (1.6% agar). The host cells were elongated by the carriage of the all plasmids, respectively. Copy number determination by quantitative PCR showed that the amount of each plasmid DNA in the host cell did not differed drastically. Whole genome resequencing showed that 13 SNPs (RP4), 24 SNPs (pCAR1) and 5 SNPs (NAH7) were the total differences between the two substrains for each plasmid-harboring strains. Transcriptome analyses showed that the impact of plasmid carriage was constantly larger in RP4-harboring strain than the other two plasmid-harboring strains. Genes involved in metal acquisition and metabolism were commonly affected by the carriage of the three plasmid. Indeed, plasmid-harboring strains showed greater growth inhibition than plasmid-free strains under iron-limiting condition. This feature could become future target to control plasmid spreading.
Project description:Plasmids are extrachromosomal genetic elements commonly found in bacteria. Plasmids are known to fuel bacterial evolution through horizontal gene transfer (HGT), but recent analyses indicate that they can also promote intragenomic adaptations. However, the role of plasmids as catalysts of bacterial evolution beyond HGT remains poorly explored. In this study, we investigate the impact of a widespread conjugative plasmid, pOXA-48, on the evolution of various multidrug-resistant clinical enterobacteria. Combining experimental and within-patient evolution analyses, we unveil that plasmid pOXA-48 promotes bacterial evolution through the transposition of plasmid-encoded IS1 elements. Specifically, IS1-mediated gene inactivations expedite the adaptation rate of clinical strains in vitro and foster within-patient adaptation in the gut. We decipher the mechanism underlying the plasmid-mediated surge in IS1 transposition, revealing a negative feedback loop regulated by the genomic copy number of IS1. Given the overrepresentation of IS elements in bacterial plasmids, our findings propose that plasmid-mediated IS transposition represents a crucial mechanism for swift bacterial adaptation.