Mazel D, Dychinco B, Webb V A, Davies J
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, 6174 University Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Science. 1998 Apr 24;280(5363):605-8. doi: 10.1126/science.280.5363.605.
The ability of bacteria to acquire and disseminate heterologous genes has been a major factor in the development of multiple drug resistance. A gene, intI4, was identified that encodes a previously unknown integrase that is associated with a "gene-VCR" organization (VCRs are Vibrio cholerae repeated sequences), similar to that of the well-characterized antibiotic resistance integrons. The similarity was confirmed by IntI1-mediated recombination of a gene-VCR cassette into a class 1 integron. VCR cassettes are found in a number of Vibrio species including a strain of V. metschnikovii isolated in 1888, suggesting that this mechanism of heterologous gene acquisition predated the antibiotic era.
细菌获取和传播异源基因的能力一直是多重耐药性发展的一个主要因素。人们鉴定出了一个名为intI4的基因，它编码一种此前未知的整合酶，该整合酶与一种“基因-VCR”结构相关（VCR是霍乱弧菌重复序列），类似于特征明确的抗生素抗性整合子的结构。通过IntI1介导将一个基因-VCR盒重组到1类整合子中，证实了这种相似性。VCR盒存在于许多弧菌属物种中，包括1888年分离出的一株米氏弧菌，这表明这种获取异源基因的机制早在抗生素时代之前就已存在。
