title: The current ICE age: biology and evolution of SXT-related integrating conjugative elements.
abstract: SXT is an integrating conjugative element (ICE) that was initially isolated from a 1992 Vibrio cholerae O139 clinical isolate from India. This approximately 100-kb ICE encodes resistance to multiple antibiotics. SXT or closely related ICEs are now present in most clinical and some environmental V. cholerae isolates from Asia and Africa. SXT-related ICEs are not limited to V. cholerae. It is now clear that so-called IncJ elements such as R391 are closely related to SXT. More than 25 members of the SXT/R391 family of ICEs have now been identified in environmental and clinical isolates of diverse species of gamma-proteobacteria worldwide. In this review, we discuss the diversity, evolution and biology of this family of ICEs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Boston, MA 02111, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Burrus
authors.forename: Joeli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marrero
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Waldor
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000502:physiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; C444446:o139 SXT constin protein, Vibrio cholerae