Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance
Mobile integrons are widespread genetic platforms that allow bacteria to modulate the expression of antibiotic resistance cassettes by shuffling their position from a common promoter. Antibiotic stress induces the expression of an integrase that excises and integrates cassettes, and this unique reco...
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doaj-b959d927914f45148abdbaa125403a832021-05-05T22:50:25ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-02-011010.7554/eLife.62474Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistanceCélia Souque0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7194-4322José Antonio Escudero1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8552-2956R Craig MacLean2University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Oxford, United KingdomUniversity of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Oxford, United Kingdom; Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Sanidad Animal and VISAVET, Madrid, SpainUniversity of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Oxford, United KingdomMobile integrons are widespread genetic platforms that allow bacteria to modulate the expression of antibiotic resistance cassettes by shuffling their position from a common promoter. Antibiotic stress induces the expression of an integrase that excises and integrates cassettes, and this unique recombination and expression system is thought to allow bacteria to ‘evolve on demand’ in response to antibiotic pressure. To test this hypothesis, we inserted a custom three-cassette integron into Pseudomonas aeruginosa and used experimental evolution to measure the impact of integrase activity on adaptation to gentamicin. Crucially, integrase activity accelerated evolution by increasing the expression of a gentamicin resistance cassette through duplications and by eliminating redundant cassettes. Importantly, we found no evidence of deleterious off-target effects of integrase activity. In summary, integrons accelerate resistance evolution by rapidly generating combinatorial variation in cassette composition while maintaining genomic integrity.https://elifesciences.org/articles/62474P. aeruginosaexperimental evolutionantibiotic resistanceintegron |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Célia Souque José Antonio Escudero R Craig MacLean |
spellingShingle |
Célia Souque José Antonio Escudero R Craig MacLean Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance eLife P. aeruginosa experimental evolution antibiotic resistance integron |
author_facet |
Célia Souque José Antonio Escudero R Craig MacLean |
author_sort |
Célia Souque |
title |
Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
title_short |
Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
title_full |
Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
title_fullStr |
Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
title_sort |
integron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistance |
publisher |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
series |
eLife |
issn |
2050-084X |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
Mobile integrons are widespread genetic platforms that allow bacteria to modulate the expression of antibiotic resistance cassettes by shuffling their position from a common promoter. Antibiotic stress induces the expression of an integrase that excises and integrates cassettes, and this unique recombination and expression system is thought to allow bacteria to ‘evolve on demand’ in response to antibiotic pressure. To test this hypothesis, we inserted a custom three-cassette integron into Pseudomonas aeruginosa and used experimental evolution to measure the impact of integrase activity on adaptation to gentamicin. Crucially, integrase activity accelerated evolution by increasing the expression of a gentamicin resistance cassette through duplications and by eliminating redundant cassettes. Importantly, we found no evidence of deleterious off-target effects of integrase activity. In summary, integrons accelerate resistance evolution by rapidly generating combinatorial variation in cassette composition while maintaining genomic integrity. |
topic |
P. aeruginosa experimental evolution antibiotic resistance integron |
url |
https://elifesciences.org/articles/62474 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT celiasouque integronactivityacceleratestheevolutionofantibioticresistance AT joseantonioescudero integronactivityacceleratestheevolutionofantibioticresistance AT rcraigmaclean integronactivityacceleratestheevolutionofantibioticresistance |
_version_ |
1721457555620757504 |