Robinson D Ashley, Enright Mark C
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
J Bacteriol. 2004 Feb;186(4):1060-4. doi: 10.1128/JB.186.4.1060-1064.2004.
Conjugative transfer and replacement of hundreds of kilobases of a bacterial chromosome can occur in vitro, but replacements in nature are either an order of magnitude smaller or involve the movement of mobile genetic elements. We discovered that two lineages of Staphylococcus aureus, including a pandemic methicillin-resistant lineage, were founded by single chromosomal replacements of at least approximately 244 and approximately 557 kb representing approximately 10 and approximately 20% of the chromosome, respectively, without the obvious involvement of mobile genetic elements. The replacements are unprecedented in natural populations of bacteria because of their large size and unique structure and may have a dramatic impact on bacterial evolution.
数百千碱基的细菌染色体的接合转移和替换可以在体外发生,但自然界中的替换要么小一个数量级,要么涉及移动遗传元件的移动。我们发现,金黄色葡萄球菌的两个谱系,包括一个耐甲氧西林的大流行谱系,是由至少约244 kb和约557 kb的单个染色体替换建立的,分别占染色体的约10%和约20%,且没有移动遗传元件的明显参与。这些替换在细菌自然种群中是前所未有的,因为它们的大小和独特结构,可能会对细菌进化产生巨大影响。