title: Conjugative type IV secretion systems in Gram-positive bacteria.
abstract: Bacterial conjugation presents the most important means to spread antibiotic resistance and virulence factors among closely and distantly related bacteria. Conjugative plasmids are the mobile genetic elements mainly responsible for this task. All the genetic information required for the horizontal transmission is encoded on the conjugative plasmids themselves. Two distinct concepts for horizontal plasmid transfer in Gram-positive bacteria exist, the most prominent one transports single stranded plasmid DNA via a multi-protein complex, termed type IV secretion system, across the Gram-positive cell envelope. Type IV secretion systems have been found in virtually all unicellular Gram-positive bacteria, whereas multicellular Streptomycetes seem to have developed a specialized system more closely related to the machinery involved in bacterial cell division and sporulation, which transports double stranded DNA from donor to recipient cells. This review intends to summarize the state of the art of prototype systems belonging to the two distinct concepts; it focuses on protein key players identified so far and gives future directions for research in this emerging field of promiscuous interbacterial transport.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: n.goessweiner.mohr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nikolaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goessweiner-Mohr
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arends
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grohmann
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems / Q000235:genetics*; D001692:Biological Transport; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D003013:Clostridium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D009876:Operon; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D013306:Streptomycetaceae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D058947:Bacterial Secretion Systems; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D004247:DNA
keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Conjugative transfer; Enterococcus; G+; Gram-negative; Gram-positive; G−; PG; Plasmid; T4S; T4SS; TMD; TMH; Type IV secretion; aa; amino acid(s); double stranded; ds; peptidoglycan; single stranded; ss; trans-membrane domain; trans-membrane helix; type IV secretion; type IV secretion system