title: Identification of another module involved in the horizontal transfer of the Haemophilus genomic island ICEHin1056.
abstract: A significant part of horizontal gene transfer is facilitated by genomic islands. Haemophilus influenzae genomic island ICEHin1056 is an archetype of a genomic island that accounts for pandemic spread of antibiotics resistance. ICEHin1056 has modular structure and harbors modules involved in type IV secretion and integration. Previous studies have shown that ICEHin1056 encodes a functional type IV secretion system; however, other modules have not been characterized yet. Here we show that the module on the 5' extremity of ICEHin1056 consists of 15 genes that are well conserved in a number of related genomic islands. Furthermore by disrupting six genes of the investigated module of ICEHin1056 by site-specific mutagenesis we demonstrate that in addition to type IV secretion system module, the investigated module is also important for the successful conjugal transfer of ICEHin1056 from donor to recipient cells.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, NDCLS, University of Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK. mj417@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juhas
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dimopoulou
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Abdel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elamin
authors.forename: Rosalind
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hood
authors.forename: Derrick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crook
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000235:genetics*; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D042822:Genomic Instability / Q000235:genetics; D044404:Genomic Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D006190:Haemophilus / Q000235:genetics*; D006193:Haemophilus influenzae / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Conjugation; Genomic island; Haemophilus; Horizontal gene transfer; ICE