RT Journal Article
T1 Chromosomal integrons are genetically and functionally isolated units of genomes
A1 Blanco Torres, Paula
A1 Trigo da Roza, Filipa
A1 Toribio Celestino, Laura
A1 García Pastor, Lucía
A1 Caselli, Niccolo
A1 Morón García, Álvaro
A1 Ojeda, Francisco
A1 Darracq, Baptiste
A1 Vergara, Ester
A1 Amaro Torres, Francisco
A1 San Millán, Álvaro
A1 Skovgaard, Ole
A1 Mazel, Didier
A1 Loot, Céline
A1 Escudero García-Calderón, José Antonio
AB Integrons are genetic elements that increase the evolvability of bacteria by capturing new genes and stockpiling them in arrays. Sedentary chromosomal integrons (SCIs) can be massive and highly stabilized structures encoding hundreds of genes, whose function remains generally unknown. SCIs have co-evolved with the host for aeons and are highly intertwined with their physiology from a mechanistic point of view. But, paradoxically, other aspects, like their variable content and location within the genome, suggest a high genetic and functional independence. In this work, we have explored the connection of SCIs to their host genome using as a model the Superintegron (SI), a 179-cassette long SCI in the genome of Vibrio cholerae N16961. We have relocated and deleted the SI using SeqDelTA, a novel method that allows to counteract the strong stabilization conferred by toxin–antitoxin systems within the array. We have characterized in depth the impact in V. cholerae’s physiology, measuring fitness, chromosome replication dynamics, persistence, transcriptomics, phenomics, natural competence, virulence and resistance against protist grazing. The deletion of the SI did not produce detectable effects in any condition, proving that—despite millions of years of co-evolution—SCIs are genetically and functionally isolated units of genomes.
PB Oxford University Press
SN 0305-1048
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109343
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109343
LA eng
NO 2016-T1/BIO-1105, 2020-5A/BIO-19726 para J.A.E.FJC 2020-043017-I para P.B.SFRH/BD/144108/2019 para F.T.R.CNRS-UMR3525 para B.D., D.M., C.L.EQU202103012569 para D.M.
NO European Commission
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Fundação para Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
NO Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Francia)
NO Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (Francia)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 13 jun 2025