Top Eva M, Springael Dirk
Department of Biological Sciences, 347 Life Sciences Building South, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-3051, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2003 Jun;14(3):262-9. doi: 10.1016/s0958-1669(03)00066-1.
Retrospective studies clearly indicate that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) play a major role in the in situ spread and even de novo construction of catabolic pathways in bacteria, allowing bacterial communities to rapidly adapt to new xenobiotics. The construction of novel pathways seems to occur by an assembly process that involves horizontal gene transfer: different appropriate genes or gene modules that encode different parts of the novel pathway are recruited from phylogenetically related or distant hosts into one single host. Direct evidence for the importance of catabolic MGEs in bacterial adaptation to xenobiotics stems from observed correlations between catabolic gene transfer and accelerated biodegradation in several habitats and from studies that monitor catabolic MGEs in polluted sites.
回顾性研究清楚地表明，移动遗传元件（MGEs）在细菌中分解代谢途径的原位传播乃至从头构建中发挥着主要作用，使细菌群落能够迅速适应新的外源化合物。新途径的构建似乎是通过一个涉及水平基因转移的组装过程发生的：编码新途径不同部分的不同合适基因或基因模块从系统发育相关或较远的宿主中被招募到单个宿主中。分解代谢MGEs在细菌对外源化合物适应中的重要性的直接证据来自于在几个生境中观察到的分解代谢基因转移与加速生物降解之间的相关性，以及对污染场地中分解代谢MGEs进行监测的研究。
