Veschetti Laura, Sandri Angela, Patuzzo Cristina, Melotti Paola, Malerba Giovanni, Lleò Maria M
Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
Microorganisms. 2021 Jan 8;9(1):130. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9010130.
spp. is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although a variety of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) carrying antimicrobial resistance genes have been identified in clinical isolates, little is known about the contribution of spp. mobilome to its pathogenicity. To provide new insights, we performed bioinformatic analyses of 54 whole genome sequences and investigated the presence of phages, insertion sequences (ISs), and integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs). Most of the detected phages were previously described in other pathogens and carried type II toxin-antitoxin systems as well as other pathogenic genes. Interestingly, the partial sequence of phage Bcep176 was found in all the analyzed genome sequences, suggesting the integration of this phage in an ancestor strain. A wide variety of IS was also identified either inside of or in proximity to pathogenicity islands. Finally, ICEs carrying pathogenic genes were found to be widespread among our isolates and seemed to be involved in transfer events within the CF lung. These results highlight the contribution of MGEs to the pathogenicity of species, their potential to become antimicrobial targets, and the need for further studies to better elucidate their clinical impact.
某菌属是一种机会致病菌，可导致囊性纤维化（CF）患者发生肺部感染。尽管在临床分离株中已鉴定出多种携带抗菌抗性基因的移动遗传元件（MGEs），但对于该菌属的移动基因组对其致病性的贡献知之甚少。为了提供新的见解，我们对54个全基因组序列进行了生物信息学分析，并研究了噬菌体、插入序列（ISs）以及整合和接合元件（ICEs）的存在情况。大多数检测到的噬菌体先前已在其他病原体中描述过，并携带II型毒素-抗毒素系统以及其他致病基因。有趣的是，在所有分析的该菌属基因组序列中都发现了噬菌体Bcep176的部分序列，这表明该噬菌体整合到了一个祖先菌株中。在致病岛内部或附近也鉴定出了各种各样的插入序列。最后，发现携带致病基因的ICEs在我们的分离株中广泛存在，并且似乎参与了CF肺部内的转移事件。这些结果突出了MGEs对该菌属致病性的贡献、它们成为抗菌靶点的潜力以及进一步研究以更好地阐明其临床影响的必要性。
