ICE SXT vs. ICESh95: Co-existence of Integrative and Conjugative Elements and Competition for a New Host

PARMECIANO DI NOTO, GISELA; IRIARTE, ANDRÉS; RAMÍREZ, MARÍA SOLEDAD; CENTRÓN, DANIELA; QUIROGA, CECILIA

Scientific Reports

Springer, Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2019 vol. 9

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are mobile genetic elements that contribute to horizontalgene transfer. The aim of this work was to study diferent types of ICEs in clinical isolates of theemergent pathogen Shewanella spp., to compare their transfer efciency and their ability to integratea new host. Here we show that 3 out of 10 clinical isolates contained an ICE. Two of these elementswere similar to ICEs from the SXT/R391 family and the other one was similar to ICESh95, a hybridplatform. Mating assays showed that these elements co-exist for several generations in the samehost. Furthermore, transfer rates and competition assays between ICESh95 and ICESh392, an SXTlike element, suggest that the latter has evolved into a well-oiled machine that efciently spread todiferent bacteria. Our results provide strong evidence of the role that ICEs play in the disseminationof genetic traits in nature and the implications that they have in the global threat of antimicrobialresistance.