| Title: | Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids |
| Author(s): | Sterling AJ; Snelling WJ; Naughton PJ; Ternan NG; Dooley JSG; |
| Address: | "Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE), Ulster University, Coleraine, Londonderry, Northern Ireland" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1553-7374 (Electronic) 1553-7366 (Print) 1553-7366 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Enterococci are robust gram-positive bacteria that are found in a variety of surroundings and that cause a significant number of healthcare-associated infections. The genus possesses a high-efficiency pheromone-responsive plasmid (PRP) transfer system for genetic exchange that allows antimicrobial-resistance determinants to spread within bacterial populations. The pCF10 plasmid system is the best characterised, and although other PRP systems are structurally similar, they lack exact functional homologues of pCF10-encoded genes. In this review, we provide an overview of the enterococcal PRP systems, incorporating functional details for the less-well-defined systems. We catalogue the virulence-associated elements of the PRPs that have been identified to date, and we argue that this reinforces the requirement for elucidation of the less studied systems" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Bacterial Proteins/*genetics Conjugation, Genetic DNA, Bacterial/*genetics Drug Resistance, Bacterial/*genetics Enterococcus faecalis/*genetics Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/*microbiology Humans Pheromones/*physiology Plasmids/*genetics Virul;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineSterling, Amy J Snelling, William J Naughton, Patrick J Ternan, Nigel G Dooley, James S G eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review 2020/04/03 PLoS Pathog. 2020 Apr 2; 16(4):e1008310. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310. eCollection 2020 Apr" |
