Clostridium sordellii pathogenicity locus plasmid pCS1-1 encodes a novel clostridial conjugation locus
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A major virulence factor in Clostridium sordellii-mediated infection is the toxin TcsL, which is encoded within a region of the genome called the pathogenicity locus (PaLoc). C. sordellii isolates carry the PaLoc on the pCS1 family of plasmids, of which there are four characterized members. Here, we determined the potential mobility of pCS1 plasmids and characterized a fifth unique pCS1 member. Using a derivative of the pCS1-1 plasmid from strain ATCC 9714 which had been marked with the ermB erythromycin resistance gene, conjugative transfer into a recipient C. sordellii isolate, R28058, was demonstrated. Bioinformatic analysis of pCS1-1 identified a novel conjugation gene cluster defined as the C. sordellii transfer (cst) locus. Interruption of genes within the cst locus resulted in loss of pCS1-1 transfer, which was restored upon complementation in trans. These studies provided clear evidence that genes within the cst locus are essential for the conjugative transfer of pCS1-1. The cst locus is present on all pCS1 subtypes, and homologous loci were identified on toxin-encoding plasmids from Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum and also carried within genomes of Clostridium difficile isolates, indicating that it is a widespread clostridial conjugation locus. The results of this study have broad implications for the dissemination of toxin genes and, potentially, antibiotic resistance genes among members of a diverse range of clostridial pathogens, providing these microorganisms with a survival advantage within the infected host.
Date Issued
2018-03-07
Date Acceptance
2017-11-15
Citation
mBio, 2018, 9 (1)
ISSN
2150-7511
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Journal / Book Title
mBio
Volume
9
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Vidor et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Sponsor
The Leverhulme Trust
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000427006300025&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
RF-2012-232
MR/J006874/1B
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Microbiology
Clostridium
Clostridium sordellii
conjugation
PaLoc transfer
plasmid
PERFRINGENS TYPE-C
NOVYI TYPE-A
TETRACYCLINE-RESISTANCE
TOXIN PRODUCTION
BACTERIAL CONJUGATION
IV SECRETION
DIFFICILE
INFECTION
STRAINS
SYSTEMS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e01761-17
Date Publish Online
2018-01-16