Recent Horizontal Transfer Event Research Articles

Tracking a recent horizontal transfer event: The P-element reaches Brazilian populations of Drosophila simulans.

The “cut-and-paste” P-element present in some Diptera illustrates two important transposable elements abilities: to move within genomes and to be transmitted between non-mating species, a phenomenon known as horizontal transposon transfer (HTT). Recent studies reported a HTT of the P-element from Drosophila melanogaster to D. simulans. P-elements first appeared in D. simulans European samples collected in 2006 and spread across several populations from Europe, Africa, North America and Japan within seven years. Nevertheless, no P-element was found in South American populations of D. simulans collected between 2002 and 2009. We investigated the presence of the P-element in D. simulans collected in five Brazilian localities between 2018 and 2019, using a combination of methodologies such as PCR, DNA sequencing and FISH on chromosomes. Our experiments revealed the presence of the P-element in all sampled individuals from the five localities. The number of P-elements per individual varied from 11 to 20 copies and truncated copies were also observed. Altogether, our results showed that P-element invasion in D. simulans is at an advanced stage in Brazil and, together with other recent studies, confirms the remarkable rapid invasion of P-elements across worldwide D. simulans populations.

Rapid Expansion of a Highly Germline-Expressed Mariner Element Acquired by Horizontal Transfer in the Fire Ant Genome.

Transposable elements (TEs) are present in almost all organisms and affect the host in various ways. TE activity can increase genomic variation and thereby affect host evolution. Currently active TEs are particularly interesting because they are likely generating new genomic diversity. These active TEs have been poorly studied outside of model organisms. In this study, we aimed to identify currently active TEs of a notorious invasive species, the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Using RNA profiling of male and female germline tissues, we found that the majority of TE-containing transcripts in the fire ant germline belong to the IS630-Tc1-Mariner superfamily. Subsequent genomic characterization of fire ant mariner content, molecular evolution analysis, and population comparisons revealed a highly expressed and highly polymorphic mariner element that is rapidly expanding in the fire ant genome. Additionally, using comparative genomics of multiple insect species we showed that this mariner has undergone several recent horizontal transfer events (<5.1 My). Our results document a rare case of a currently active TE originating from horizontal transfer.

Expansion of ability of denitrification within the filamentous colorless sulfur bacteria of the genus Thiothrix.

Filamentous sulfur bacteria of the genus Thiothrix are able to respire nitrate (NO3-→NO2-) under anaerobic growth. Here, Thiothrix caldifontis (G1(T), G3), Thiothrix unzii (A1(T), TN) and Thiothrix lacustris AS were shown to be capable of further reduction of nitrite and/or nitrous oxides (denitrification). In particular, in the genomes of these strains, excluding T. unzii TN, the nirS gene encoding periplasmic respiratory nitrite reductase was detected, and for T. lacustris AS the nirS expression was confirmed during anaerobic growth. The nirK gene, coding for an alternative nitrite reductase, and the nrfA gene, encoding nitrite reduction to ammonia, were not found in any investigated strains. All Thiothrix species capable of denitrification possess the cnorB gene encoding cytochrome c-dependent NO reductase but not the qnorB gene coding for quinol-dependent NO reductase. Denitrifying capacity ('full' or 'truncated') can vary between strains belonging to the same species and correlates with physical-chemical parameters of the environment such as nitrate, hydrogen sulfide and oxygen concentrations. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the absence of recent horizontal transfer events for narG and nirS; however, cnorB was subjected to gene transfer before the separation of modern species from a last common ancestor of the Thiothrix species.

A New Family of Ty1-copia-Like Retrotransposons Originated in the Tomato Genome by a Recent Horizontal Transfer Event

Rider is a novel and recently active Ty1-copia-like retrotransposon isolated from the T3238fer mutant of tomato. Structurally, it is delimited by a duplication of target sites and contains two long terminal direct repeats and an internal open reading frame, which encodes a Ty1-copia-type polyprotein with characteristic protein domains required for retrotransposition. The family of Rider elements has an intermediate copy number and is scattered in the chromosomes of tomato. Rider family members in the tomato genome share high sequence similarity, but different structural groups were identified (full-size elements, deletion derivatives, and solo LTRs). Southern blot analysis in Solanaceae species showed that Rider was a Lycopersicon-specific element. Sequence analysis revealed that among other plants, two Arabidopsis elements (named as Rider-like 1 and Rider-like 2) are most similar to Rider in both the coding and noncoding regions. RT-PCR analysis indicates that Rider is constitutively expressed in tomato plants. The phylogeny-based parsimony analysis and the sequence substitution analyses of these data suggest that these Rider-like elements originated from a recent introgression of Rider into the tomato genome by horizontal transfer 1-6 million years ago. Considering its transcriptional activity and the recent insertion of the element into at least two genes, Rider is a recently active retrotransposon in the tomato genome.

Diversifying Selection and Concerted Evolution of a Type IV Secretion System in Bartonella

We have studied the evolution of a type IV secretion system (T4SS), in Bartonella, which is thought to have changed function from conjugation to erythrocyte adherence following a recent horizontal gene transfer event. The system, called Trw, is unique among T4SSs in that genes encoding both exo- and intracellular components are located within the same duplicated fragment. This provides an opportunity to study the influence of selection on proteins involved in host-pathogen interactions. We sequenced the trw locus from several strains of Bartonella henselae and investigated its evolutionary history by comparisons to other Bartonella species. Several instances of recombination and gene conversion events where detected in the 2- to 5-fold duplicated gene fragments encompassing trwJIH, explaining the homogenization of the anchoring protein TrwI and the divergence of the minor pilus protein TrwJ. A phylogenetic analysis of the 7- to 8-fold duplicated gene coding for the major pilus protein TrwL displayed 2 distinct clades, likely representing a subfunctionalization event. The analyses of the B. henselae strains also identified a recent horizontal transfer event of almost the complete trwL region. We suggest that the switch in function of the T4SS was mediated by the duplication of the genes encoding pilus components and their diversification by combinatorial sequence shuffling within and among genomes. We suggest that the pilus proteins have evolved by diversifying selection to match a divergent set of erythrocyte surface structures, consistent with the trench warfare coevolutionary model.

Genome display tool: visualizing features in complex data sets

BackgroundThe enormity of the information contained in large data sets makes it difficult to develop intuitive understanding. It would be useful to have software that allows visualization of possible correlations between properties that can be associated with a core data set. In the case of bacterial genomes, existing visualization tools focus on either global properties such as variations in composition or detailed local displays of the features that comprise the annotation. It is not easy to visualize other information in the context of this core information.ResultsA Java based software known as the Genome Display Tool (GDT), allows the user to simultaneously view the distribution of multiple attributes pertaining to genes and intragenic regions in a single bacterial genome using different colours and shapes on a single screen. The display represents each gene by small boxes that correlate with physical position in the genome. The size of the boxes is dynamically allocated based on the number of genes and a zoom feature allows close-up inspection of regions of interest. The display is interfaced with a MS-Access relational database and can display any feature in the database that can be represented by discrete values. Data is readily added to the database from an MS-Excel spread sheet. The functionality of GDT is demonstrated by comparing the results of two predictions of recent horizontal transfer events in the genome of Synechocystis PCC-6803. The resulting display allows the user to immediately see how much agreement exists between the two methods and also visualize how genes in various categories (e.g. predicted in both methods, one method etc) are distributed in the genome.ConclusionThe GDT software provides the user with a powerful tool that allows development of an intuitive understanding of the relative distribution of features in a large data set. As additional features are added to the data set, the number of possible correlations that can be visualized grows rapidly. Although described here for use in bacterial genomics, the principle is general and similar software might be useful in other contexts such as patient studies.

Molecular Characterization of vanB Elements in Naturally Occurring Gut Anaerobes

Previously, we reported the isolation of 10 vancomycin-resistant gram-positive anaerobic bacilli carrying the vanB ligase gene from nine hemodialysis patients (S. A. Ballard et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:77-81, 2005; T. P. Stinear et al., Lancet 357:855-856, 2001). In the present study, the molecular and evolutionary relationship of the vanB resistance element within these 10 anaerobes and two vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains were examined. PCR analysis and nucleotide sequencing demonstrated that all 12 isolates carried the vanB operon associated with an element identical to Tn1549 and Tn5382 of Enterococcus. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the vanB operon in these isolates revealed two distinct patterns, and sequencing showed that minor base differences existed. PCR amplification of the joint region of a circular intermediate was demonstrated in nine of these organisms, a finding indicative of an ability to excise and circularize, an intermediate step in transposition and conjugative transfer. Southern hybridization with a vanB-vanX(B) probe suggests that there is one insert of the transposon in all isolates. Sequence analysis of the integration site revealed distinct sequences: the Tn1549/5382 element within E. faecium was inserted within the host chromosome, whereas nucleotide sequences surrounding the Tn1549/5382 element in the 10 anaerobes showed no significant homology to sequences in the GenBank database. We demonstrate considerable similarity between the Tn1549/5382 element identified in 10 anaerobe isolates with that found in enterococci. The homology and potential to transpose suggest a recent horizontal transfer event may have occurred. However, the original direction of transposition and the mechanism involved remains unknown.

Ancient and recent horizontal transfer events: the origins of mitochondria.

APMISVolume 106, Issue S84 p. 5-14 Ancient and recent horizontal transfer events: The origins of Mitochondria S.G.E. ANDERSSON, S.G.E. ANDERSSON Department of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenSearch for more papers by this authorC.G. KURLAND, Corresponding Author C.G. KURLAND Department of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenDepartment of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenSearch for more papers by this author S.G.E. ANDERSSON, S.G.E. ANDERSSON Department of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenSearch for more papers by this authorC.G. KURLAND, Corresponding Author C.G. KURLAND Department of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenDepartment of Molecular Biology, Uppsala University BMC, Box 590, Uppsala, S75124, SwedenSearch for more papers by this author First published: 12 October 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0463.1998.tb05641.xCitations: 10AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume106, IssueS84November 1998Pages 5-14 RelatedInformation