Gene Transfer Potential of Outer Membrane Vesicles of Gram-Negative Bacteria.

Federica Dell’Annunziata,Maria Daglia,Rosa Giugliano,Anna De Filippis,Viviana Izzo,Veronica Folliero,Cristina Santarcangelo,Carla Renata Arciola,Gianluigi Franci,Massimiliano Galdiero

doi:10.3390/ijms22115985

Abstract

The increasing spread of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria is one of the major threats to public health worldwide. Bacteria can acquire antibiotic resistance and virulence genes through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). A novel horizontal gene transfer mechanism mediated by outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) has been recently identified. OMVs are rounded nanostructures released during their growth by Gram-negative bacteria. Biologically active toxins and virulence factors are often entrapped within these vesicles that behave as molecular carriers. Recently, OMVs have been reported to contain DNA molecules, but little is known about the vesicle packaging, release, and transfer mechanisms. The present review highlights the role of OMVs in HGT processes in Gram-negative bacteria.

Highlights

The advent of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria represents a serious global public health problem
The present review consists of the first literature collection on the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) mediated by outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted by Gram-negative bacteria
For the complete article collection, the keywords used in the bibliographic research were “outer membrane vesicles”, “OMVs biogenesis”, “OMVs composition”, “OMVs roles”, “horizontal gene transfer”, “bacterial evolution”, transformation”, “transduction”, “conjugation”, “Gram-negative bacteria”, “antibiotic resistance”, and “resistance genes spreads”

Summary

Introduction

The advent of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria represents a serious global public health problem. Infections caused by MDR bacteria are second in the ranking of deadly diseases in developing countries [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 700,000 people die from drug-resistant infections each year. 10 million deaths are predicted every year until 2050 [2,3,4]. Many successful bacterial infections are consequences of bacterial virulence mechanisms associated with antimicrobial escape [5]. Bacteria can escape antibiotic treatment and adapt to adverse environmental conditions through the development of different mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, while virulence mechanisms are essential to suppress and overcome the host’s defenses [6,7,8,9]

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Methods

Conclusion