Intragenomic heterogeneity and intergenomic recombination among Vibrio parahaemolyticus 16S rRNA genes.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a marine bacterium bearing 11 copies of ribosomal operons. In some strains, such as RIMD2210633, the genome includes identical copies of 16S rRNA genes (rrs). However, it is known that other strains of the species, such as strains ATCC 17802 and RIMD2210856, show conspicuous intragenomic rrs heterogeneity. The extent and diversity of the rrs heterogeneity in V. parahaemolyticus were studied in further detail by characterization of the rrs copies in environmental isolates belonging to 21 different genotype groups. Thirteen of these groups showed intragenomic heterogeneity, containing altogether 16 sequences differing within a 25 bp segment of their rrs. These sequences grouped into four clusters differing in at least four nucleotide sites. Some isolates contained rrs alleles from up to three different clusters. Each segment sequence conserved the stem-loop characteristic of the 16S rRNA structure of this 25 bp sequence. The double-stranded stem sequence was quite variable, but almost every variation had a compensatory change to maintain seven to eight paired bases. Conversely, the single-strand loop sequence was conserved. The results may be explained as a consequence of recombination among rrs evolving in different bacteria. The results suggest that intergenomic rrs recombination is very high in V. parahaemolyticus and that it occurs solely among Vibrio species. This high rrs homologous intergenomic recombination could be an effective mechanism to maintain intragenomic rrs cohesion, mediating the dispersal of the most abundant rrs version among the 11 intragenomic loci.