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A significant part of horizontal gene transfer is facilitated by genomic islands. Haemophilus influenzae genomic island ICEHin1056 is an archetype of a genomic island that accounts for pandemic spread of antibiotics resistance. ICEHin1056 has modular structure and harbors modules involved in type IV secretion and integration. Previous studies have shown that ICEHin1056 encodes a functional type IV secretion system; however, other modules have not been characterized yet. Here we show that the module on the 5' extremity of ICEHin1056 consists of 15 genes that are well conserved in a number of related genomic islands. Furthermore by disrupting six genes of the investigated module of ICEHin1056 by site-specific mutagenesis we demonstrate that in addition to type IV secretion system module, the investigated module is also important for the successful conjugal transfer of ICEHin1056 from donor to recipient cells.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.plasmid.2013.05.008

Type

Journal article

Journal

Plasmid

Publication Date

09/2013

Volume

70

Pages

277 - 283

Keywords

Conjugation, Genomic island, Haemophilus, Horizontal gene transfer, ICE, Base Sequence, Computational Biology, Conjugation, Genetic, DNA Replication, Gene Regulatory Networks, Gene Transfer, Horizontal, Genes, Bacterial, Genomic Instability, Genomic Islands, Haemophilus, Haemophilus influenzae, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutagenesis, Site-Directed, Sequence Analysis, DNA