title: Wall teichoic acid structure governs horizontal gene transfer between major bacterial pathogens.
abstract: Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) encoding virulence and resistance genes are widespread in bacterial pathogens, but it has remained unclear how they occasionally jump to new host species. Staphylococcus aureus clones exchange MGEs such as S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) with high frequency via helper phages. Here we report that the S. aureus ST395 lineage is refractory to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) with typical S. aureus but exchanges SaPIs with other species and genera including Staphylococcus epidermidis and Listeria monocytogenes. ST395 produces an unusual wall teichoic acid (WTA) resembling that of its HGT partner species. Notably, distantly related bacterial species and genera undergo efficient HGT with typical S. aureus upon ectopic expression of S. aureus WTA. Combined with genomic analyses, these results indicate that a 'glycocode' of WTA structures and WTA-binding helper phages permits HGT even across long phylogenetic distances thereby shaping the evolution of Gram-positive pathogens.
authors: Cellular and Molecular Microbiology Division, Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine, University of Tübingen, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 6, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Volker
authors: V
authors: Winstel
authors: Chunguang
authors: C
authors: Liang
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Sanchez-Carballo
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Steglich
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Munar
authors: Barbara M
authors: BM
authors: Bröker
authors: Jose R
authors: JR
authors: Penadés
authors: Ulrich
authors: U
authors: Nübel
authors: Otto
authors: O
authors: Holst
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Dandekar
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Peschel
authors: Guoqing
authors: G
authors: Xia
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D044404:Genomic Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000235:genetics; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013682:Teichoic Acids
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