This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gupta, A.
Right arrow Articles by Salyers, A. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gupta, A.
Right arrow Articles by Salyers, A. A.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Gupta, A.
Right arrow Articles by Salyers, A. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2003, p. 6455-6463, Vol. 69, No. 11
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.11.6455-6463.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A New Bacteroides Conjugative Transposon That Carries an ermB Gene

Anamika Gupta,* Hera Vlamakis, Nadja Shoemaker, and Abigail A. Salyers

Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Received 2 June 2003/ Accepted 5 August 2003

The erythromycin resistance gene ermB has been found in a variety of gram-positive bacteria. This gene has also been found in Bacteroides species but only in six recently isolated strains; thus, the gene seems to have entered this genus only recently. One of the six Bacteroides ermB-containing isolates, WH207, could transfer ermB to Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron strain BT4001 by conjugation. WH207 was identified as a Bacteroides uniformis strain based on the sequence of its 16S rRNA gene. Results of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis experiments demonstrated that the transferring element was normally integrated into the Bacteroides chromosome. The element was estimated from pulsed-field gel data to be about 100 kb in size. Since the element appeared to be a conjugative transposon (CTn), it was designated CTnBST. CTnBST was able to mobilize coresident plasmids and the circular form of the mobilizable transposon NBU1 to Bacteroides and Escherichia coli recipients. A 13-kb segment that contained ermB was cloned and sequenced. Most of the open reading frames in this region had little similarity at the amino acid sequence level to any proteins in the sequence databases, but a 1,723-bp DNA segment that included a 950-bp segment downstream of ermB had a DNA sequence that was virtually identical to that of a segment of DNA found previously in a Clostridium perfringens strain. This finding, together with the finding that ermB is located on a CTn, supports the hypothesis that CTnBST could have entered Bacteroides from some other genus, possibly from gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, this finding supports the hypothesis that many transmissible antibiotic resistance genes in Bacteroides are carried on CTns.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, 601 S. Goodwin Ave., University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. Phone: (217) 333-1736. Fax: (217) 244-2868. E-mail: agupta2{at}students.uiuc.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2003, p. 6455-6463, Vol. 69, No. 11
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.11.6455-6463.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Zielenkiewicz, U., Kowalewska, M., Kaczor, C., Ceglowski, P. (2009). In Vivo Interactions between Toxin-Antitoxin Proteins Epsilon and Zeta of Streptococcal Plasmid pSM19035 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J. Bacteriol. 191: 3677-3684 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Rhee, K.-J., Wu, S., Wu, X., Huso, D. L., Karim, B., Franco, A. A., Rabizadeh, S., Golub, J. E., Mathews, L. E., Shin, J., Sartor, R. B., Golenbock, D., Hamad, A. R., Gan, C. M., Housseau, F., Sears, C. L. (2009). Induction of Persistent Colitis by a Human Commensal, Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, in Wild-Type C57BL/6 Mice. Infect. Immun. 77: 1708-1718 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Song, B., Shoemaker, N. B., Gardner, J. F., Salyers, A. A. (2007). Integration Site Selection by the Bacteroides Conjugative Transposon CTnBST. J. Bacteriol. 189: 6594-6601 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schlesinger, D. J., Shoemaker, N. B., Salyers, A. A. (2007). Possible Origins of CTnBST, a Conjugative Transposon Found Recently in a Human Colonic Bacteroides Strain. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 4226-4233 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wesslund, N. A., Wang, G.-R., Song, B., Shoemaker, N. B., Salyers, A. A. (2007). Integration and Excision of a Newly Discovered Bacteroides Conjugative Transposon, CTnBST. J. Bacteriol. 189: 1072-1082 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Billington, S. J., Jost, B. H. (2006). Multiple Genetic Elements Carry the Tetracycline Resistance Gene tet(W) in the Animal Pathogen Arcanobacterium pyogenes. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50: 3580-3587 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»