Cassette recombination dynamics within chromosomal integrons are regulated by toxin-antitoxin systems.
ROCHA, Eduardo P C
Institut Pasteur [Paris] [IP]
Génétique des génomes - Genetics of Genomes [UMR 3525]
< Reduce
Institut Pasteur [Paris] [IP]
Génétique des génomes - Genetics of Genomes [UMR 3525]
Language
EN
Article de revue
This item was published in
Science Advances. 2024-01-12, vol. 10, n° 2, p. eadj3498
English Abstract
Integrons are adaptive bacterial devices that rearrange promoter-less gene cassettes into variable ordered arrays under stress conditions, thereby sampling combinatorial phenotypic diversity. Chromosomal integrons often ...Read more >
Integrons are adaptive bacterial devices that rearrange promoter-less gene cassettes into variable ordered arrays under stress conditions, thereby sampling combinatorial phenotypic diversity. Chromosomal integrons often carry hundreds of silent gene cassettes, with integrase-mediated recombination leading to rampant DNA excision and integration, posing a potential threat to genome integrity. How this activity is regulated and controlled, particularly through selective pressures, to maintain such large cassette arrays is unknown. Here, we show a key role of promoter-containing toxin-antitoxin (TA) cassettes as systems that kill the cell when the overall cassette excision rate is too high. These results highlight the importance of TA cassettes regulating the cassette recombination dynamics and provide insight into the evolution and success of integrons in bacterial genomes.Read less <
English Keywords
Integrons
Toxin-Antitoxin Systems
Bacteria
Genome
Bacterial
Recombination
Genetic