Erasing the superintegron to understand the role of chromosomal integrons in bacterial evolution

Descripción del proyecto

Información sobre elementos genéticos móviles en bacterias: aprender del cólera

Los elementos genéticos bacterianos, como los integrones, son los responsables de la evolución de las bacterias a través de la transferencia de genes. Los integrones móviles están implicados en la aparición de la resistencia a antibióticos, que se ha convertido en un importante problema de salud. Los científicos del proyecto financiado con fondos europeos KryptonInt están investigando el superintegrón (SI), un integrón cromosómico sedentario localizado en el cromosoma de la bacteria «Vibrio cholerae», el agente causal del cólera. Mediante la eliminación del SI, los investigadores estudiarán el papel y el valor adaptativo de los integrones en la naturaleza e investigarán los mecanismos subyacentes a la escisión de los genes en un elemento genético móvil. Los resultados revelarán información importante sobre la distribución de los elementos de resistencia a antibióticos entre humanos, animales, alimentos y el medio ambiente.

Objetivo

Integrons are genetic platforms that enhance bacterial evolvability through the acquisition and stockpiling of new genes encoded in mobile elements named cassettes. They are found in the chromosomes of environmental bacteria but some have acquired mobility through their association to transposons and conjugative plasmids. These mobile integrons (MI) caused the unexpected rise of multidrug resistance that is now a major threat to modern medicine, and are good proof of the adaptive power of integrons. Class 1 integrons are the most relevant MI and the major experimental model. Yet little is known about the hundreds of sedentary chromosomal integrons (SCI) that have driven bacterial evolution for eons. The paradigm of SCI is the superintegron (SI), an extremely large integron located in the chromosome of Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of Cholera disease. Despite its role in the adaptability of one of the deadliest pathogens in history, the SI is poorly characterized because it is only functional in its native genetic background, yet its presence interferes with, and precludes all studies performed in V. cholerae. I propose to solve this paradoxical situation by deleting the SI, an ambitious project not only for its size (126 Kb) but because it is highly stabilized by 17 toxin-antitoxin systems. To do so, I have developed SeqDelTA, a novel method that is already giving excellent preliminary results. I will then use V. cholerae∆SI to study fundamental aspects of SCIs, yet out of reach. I will elucidate the functions encoded in SI cassettes to understand the role and adaptive value of integrons in nature; I will also unravel the genesis of cassettes: how a gene is exapted from its genetic context to become a mobile module; and I will explore the circulation of antibiotic resistance cassettes among humans, animals, food, and the environment with a novel biosynthetic tool (the I3C). KryptonInt will open and explore the historically inaccessible field of study of SCIs.