Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Nov;6(6):10.1128/microbiolspec.gpp3-0030-2018.
doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.GPP3-0030-2018.

Staphylococcal Plasmids, Transposable and Integrative Elements

Neville Firth  1 , Slade O Jensen  2 , Stephen M Kwong  1 , Ronald A Skurray  1 , Joshua P Ramsay  3
Affiliations
Review

Staphylococcal Plasmids, Transposable and Integrative Elements

Neville Firth et al. Microbiol Spectr. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Strains of Staphylococcus aureus, and to a lesser extent other staphylococcal species, are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. An important factor in the notoriety of these organisms stems from their frequent resistance to many antimicrobial agents used for chemotherapy. This review catalogues the variety of mobile genetic elements that have been identified in staphylococci, with a primary focus on those associated with the recruitment and spread of antimicrobial resistance genes. These include plasmids, transposable elements such as insertion sequences and transposons, and integrative elements including ICE and SCC elements. In concert, these diverse entities facilitate the intra- and inter-cellular gene mobility that enables horizontal genetic exchange, and have also been found to play additional roles in modulating gene expression and genome rearrangement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Maps of representative RCR plasmids: pT181, pC221, pC194, pUB110, pE194, pSN2, and pPV141 (25, 231); see text for additional references. Plasmid sizes are shown on the left. Resistance and plasmid maintenance genes/loci are shown: rep/repC/repF/repH/repU, initiation of replication; dso, double-stranded origin of DNA replication; sso, single-stranded origin of DNA replication; mobA/mobB/mobC/mobpre, mobilization; oriT/oriTRSa, origin of DNA transfer; cat, chloramphenicol resistance. Refer to Tables 1 and 2 for the antimicrobial resistance(s) conferred by other resistance determinants.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Maps of representative nonconjugative theta-replicating plasmids: pI258, pSK1, pIB485, pUSA300-HOU-MR, pMW2, pSK639, and pSK818 (3, 25, 29, 65, 85, 89, 232); see text for additional references. Resistance/enterotoxin genes, transposons, insertion sequences, and cointegrated plasmids are shown: arsBC, arsenic resistance; cadA, cadmium resistance; mphC, macrolide resistance; msrA, macrolide/streptogramin B resistance; qacA, antiseptic/disinfectant resistance; ser, sej, and sed, enterotoxins. Refer to Tables 1 and 2 for the antimicrobial resistance(s) conferred by other resistance determinants. Plasmid maintenance genes/loci are also shown: par, novel partitioning system; rep, initiation of replication; sin, multimer resolution; TA, Fst-like toxin-antitoxin system; mobA/mobB/mobC/mobpre, mobilization.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Maps of representative conjugative theta-replicating plasmids: pSK41, pLW1043, pWBG749, pBRZ01, and pWBG4 (27, 43, 128, 136, 137); see text for additional references. Resistance genes, transposons, insertion sequences, and cointegrated plasmids are shown: refer to Tables 1 and 2 for the antimicrobial resistance(s) conferred by the resistance determinants. Plasmid maintenance genes/loci (if known) are also shown: parAB, type I partitioning system; parMR, type II partitioning system; rep, initiation of replication; res, multimer resolution; TA, Fst-like toxin-antitoxin system; tra/smp/det genes, conjugative transfer; nes/smpP genes, relaxases; oriT, origin of transfer. Note that pLW1043 and pBRZ01 are members of the pSK41 and pWBG749 families, respectively.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Genetic organization of Tn916, Tn5801, ICEBs1, and ICE6013. A comparison of Tn916, Tn5801, ICEBs1, and ICE6013 constructed using EasyFig (233). Amino acid similarity comparisons (20% lower cutoff) using tblastx and are shown as gray shading between regions on each ICE. Genes with likely common functions—regardless of sequence similarity—are similarly colored. Positions of the conjugative origin of transfer (oriT) and single-strand origin of replication (sso) are indicated if known. Recombinase attachment/target sites are indicated by green rectangles. Annotations were collated from previously published figures for each ICE (15, 181, 197, 204, 206, 234, 235).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Maps of representative SCC elements (4, 216); see text for additional references. Resistance/virulence genes, transposons, insertion sequences, and cointegrated plasmids are shown: arsBC, arsenic resistance; cadA, cadmium resistance; cap1 genes, capsular polysaccharide (220); fusC (previously known as far), fusidic acid resistance (236); mecA/mecC, β-lactam resistance. Refer to Table 1 for the antimicrobial resistance(s) conferred by other resistance determinants. Cassette recombinase genes (ccrA, ccrB, and ccrC), mecA/mecC regulatory genes (mecI and mecR1), and an arginine catabolic mobile element (ACME I [227]) are also shown; mec classes and ccr types are denoted by gray shading. Note that cch genes, polA, and SAUGI are not shown and that IS257 is also known as IS431.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kuroda M, Ohta T, Uchiyama I, Baba T, Yuzawa H, Kobayashi I, Cui L, Oguchi A, Aoki K, Nagai Y, Lian J, Ito T, Kanamori M, Matsumaru H, Maruyama A, Murakami H, Hosoyama A, Mizutani-Ui Y, Takahashi NK, Sawano T, Inoue R, Kaito C, Sekimizu K, Hirakawa H, Kuhara S, Goto S, Yabuzaki J, Kanehisa M, Yamashita A, Oshima K, Furuya K, Yoshino C, Shiba T, Hattori M, Ogasawara N, Hayashi H, Hiramatsu K. 2001. Whole genome sequencing of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Lancet 357:1225–1240 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04403-2. [PubMed] - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fitzgerald JR, Sturdevant DE, Mackie SM, Gill SR, Musser JM. 2001. Evolutionary genomics of Staphylococcus aureus: insights into the origin of methicillin-resistant strains and the toxic shock syndrome epidemic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98:8821–8826 10.1073/pnas.161098098. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baba T, Takeuchi F, Kuroda M, Yuzawa H, Aoki K, Oguchi A, Nagai Y, Iwama N, Asano K, Naimi T, Kuroda H, Cui L, Yamamoto K, Hiramatsu K. 2002. Genome and virulence determinants of high virulence community-acquired MRSA. Lancet 359:1819–1827 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08713-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Holden MT, Feil EJ, Lindsay JA, Peacock SJ, Day NP, Enright MC, Foster TJ, Moore CE, Hurst L, Atkin R, Barron A, Bason N, Bentley SD, Chillingworth C, Chillingworth T, Churcher C, Clark L, Corton C, Cronin A, Doggett J, Dowd L, Feltwell T, Hance Z, Harris B, Hauser H, Holroyd S, Jagels K, James KD, Lennard N, Line A, Mayes R, Moule S, Mungall K, Ormond D, Quail MA, Rabbinowitsch E, Rutherford K, Sanders M, Sharp S, Simmonds M, Stevens K, Whitehead S, Barrell BG, Spratt BG, Parkhill J. 2004. Complete genomes of two clinical Staphylococcus aureus strains: evidence for the rapid evolution of virulence and drug resistance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:9786–9791 10.1073/pnas.0402521101. [PubMed] - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lindsay JA, Holden MT. 2004. Staphylococcus aureus: superbug, super genome? Trends Microbiol 12:378–385 10.1016/j.tim.2004.06.004. [PubMed] - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources