Linear megaplasmids. Spreading in the Andean resistome

WAGENKNECHT, MARTIN; PEREZ, MARÍA FLORENCIA; DIB, JULIÁN RAFAEL

Microbial Ecosystems in Central Andes Extreme Environments

Springer

Lugar: New York; Año: 2020; p. 261 - 273

High-altitude wetlands and lakes in the Argentinean Puna are extreme and pristine environments. Bacteria living in such habitats must adapt to extremely harsh conditions, such as oligotrophy, high UV radiation, and high arsenic concentration, among others. Commonly, genetic traits that confer resistance to the above factors could be encoded on extrachromosomal elements. Among actinobacteria isolated from these high-altitude habitats, a screening for plasmids revealed the presence of novel linear megaplasmids for the genera Micrococcus and Brevibacterium. These linear replicons belong to a class of elements called invertrons, which are characterized by terminal inverted repeats and terminal proteins covalently attached to the DNA 5´ ends. Nucleotide sequencing studies of these linear plasmids showed the presence of genes required for the survival in these particular habitats.