Biers Erin J, Wang Kui, Pennington Catherine, Belas Robert, Chen Feng, Moran Mary Ann
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008 May;74(10):2933-9. doi: 10.1128/AEM.02129-07. Epub 2008 Mar 21.
Genes with homology to the transduction-like gene transfer agent (GTA) were observed in genome sequences of three cultured members of the marine Roseobacter clade. A broader search for homologs for this host-controlled virus-like gene transfer system identified likely GTA systems in cultured Alphaproteobacteria, and particularly in marine bacterioplankton representatives. Expression of GTA genes and extracellular release of GTA particles ( approximately 50 to 70 nm) was demonstrated experimentally for the Roseobacter clade member Silicibacter pomeroyi DSS-3, and intraspecific gene transfer was documented. GTA homologs are surprisingly infrequent in marine metagenomic sequence data, however, and the role of this lateral gene transfer mechanism in ocean bacterioplankton communities remains unclear.
在海洋玫瑰杆菌属的三个培养成员的基因组序列中观察到了与转导样基因转移因子（GTA）具有同源性的基因。对这种宿主控制的病毒样基因转移系统的同源物进行更广泛的搜索，在培养的α-变形菌中，特别是在海洋浮游细菌代表中发现了可能的GTA系统。通过实验证明了玫瑰杆菌属成员波氏硅杆菌DSS-3中GTA基因的表达和GTA颗粒（约50至70纳米）的细胞外释放，并记录了种内基因转移。然而，GTA同源物在海洋宏基因组序列数据中出奇地罕见，这种横向基因转移机制在海洋浮游细菌群落中的作用仍不清楚。
