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 Toussaint, A.
Right arrow Articles by Springael, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Toussaint, A.
Right arrow Articles by Springael, D.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Toussaint, A.
Right arrow Articles by Springael, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4837-4845, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4837-4845.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Biphenyl- and 4-Chlorobiphenyl-Catabolic Transposon Tn4371, a Member of a New Family of Genomic Islands Related to IncP and Ti Plasmids

Ariane Toussaint,1* Christophe Merlin ,2,{dagger} Sébastien Monchy,1,3 M. Abderrafi Benotmane,3 Raphaël Leplae,1 Max Mergeay,3,4 and Dirk Springael4,5

SCMBB, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels,1 Laboratory for Microbiology and Radiobiology, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK-CEN,3 Department of Environmental Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Vito), Mol,4 Laboratory for Soil and Water Management, Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium,5 Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom2

Received 7 February 2003/ Accepted 14 May 2003

The nucleotide sequence of the biphenyl catabolic transposon Tn4371 has been completed and analyzed. It confirmed that the element has a mosaic structure made of several building blocks. In addition to previously identified genes coding for a tyrosine recombinase related to phage integrases and for biphenyl degradation enzymes very similar to those of Achromobacter georgiopolitanum KKS102, Tn4371 carries many plasmid-related genes involved in replication, partition, and other, as-yet-unknown, plasmid functions. One gene cluster contains most of the genes required to express a type IV secretion-mating pair formation apparatus coupled with a TraG ATPase, all of which are related to those found on IncP and Ti plasmids. Orthologues of all Tn4371 plasmid-related genes and of the tyrosine recombinase gene were found, with a very similar organization, in the chromosome of Ralstonia solanacearum and on the yet-to-be-determined genomic sequences of Erwinia chrysanthemi and Azotobacter vinelandii. In each of these chromosomal segments, conserved segments were separated by different groups of genes, which also differed from the Tn4371 bph genes. The conserved blocks of genes were also identified, in at least two copies, in the chromosome of Ralstonia metallidurans CH34. Tn4371 thus appears to represent a new family of potentially mobile genomic islands with a broad host range since they reside in a wide range of soil proteobacteria, including plant pathogens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Service de Conformation de Macromolécules Biologiques et de Bioinformatique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 263, Boulevard du Triomphe, B1050 Brussels, Belgium. Phone: 32-2-650-54-27. Fax: 32-2-650-54-25. E-mail: ariane{at}scmbb.ulb.ac.be.

{dagger} Present address: LEMiR, UMR 163 CNRS-CEA, CEA Cadarache, 13108 St. Paul Lez Durance, France.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2003, p. 4837-4845, Vol. 69, No. 8
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.8.4837-4845.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Minoia, M., Gaillard, M., Reinhard, F., Stojanov, M., Sentchilo, V., van der Meer, J. R. (2008). Stochasticity and bistability in horizontal transfer control of a genomic island in Pseudomonas. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 20792-20797 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bellanger, X., Morel, C., Decaris, B., Guedon, G. (2007). Derepression of Excision of Integrative and Potentially Conjugative Elements from Streptococcus thermophilus by DNA Damage Response: Implication of a cI-Related Repressor. J. Bacteriol. 189: 1478-1481 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sota, M., Yano, H., Ono, A., Miyazaki, R., Ishii, H., Genka, H., Top, E. M., Tsuda, M. (2006). Genomic and Functional Analysis of the IncP-9 Naphthalene-Catabolic Plasmid NAH7 and Its Transposon Tn4655 Suggests Catabolic Gene Spread by a Tyrosine Recombinase. J. Bacteriol. 188: 4057-4067 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Gaillard, M., Vallaeys, T., Vorholter, F. J., Minoia, M., Werlen, C., Sentchilo, V., Puhler, A., van der Meer, J. R. (2006). The clc Element of Pseudomonas sp. Strain B13, a Genomic Island with Various Catabolic Properties.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1999-2013 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Gonzalez Barrios, A. F., Zuo, R., Hashimoto, Y., Yang, L., Bentley, W. E., Wood, T. K. (2006). Autoinducer 2 Controls Biofilm Formation in Escherichia coli through a Novel Motility Quorum-Sensing Regulator (MqsR, B3022). J. Bacteriol. 188: 305-316 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pavlovic, G., Burrus, V., Gintz, B., Decaris, B., Guedon, G. (2004). Evolution of genomic islands by deletion and tandem accretion by site-specific recombination: ICESt1-related elements from Streptococcus thermophilus. Microbiology 150: 759-774 [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»