An intriguing relationship between the cyclic diguanylate signaling system and horizontal gene transfer

Jonas S. Madsen (1) , Ole Hylling (1, 2) , Samuel Jacquiod (1) , Sophie Pécastaings (3) , Lars H. Hansen (2) , Leise Riber (1) , Gisle Vestergaard (1) , Søren J. Sørensen (1)

1 Department of Biology [Copenhagen]
2 Aarhus University [Aarhus]
3 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique

The second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) is ubiquitously used by bacteria to modulate and shift between different phenotypes including motility, biofilm formation and virulence. Here we show that c-di-GMP-associated genes are widespread on plasmids and that enzymes that synthesize or degrade c-di-GMP are preferentially encoded on transmissible plasmids. Additionally, expression of enzymes that synthesize c-di-GMP was found to increase both biofilm formation and, interestingly, conjugative plasmid transfer rates.

Mots clés: Microbial biofilms; Ploidies; Gene transfer; Di-GMP; Virulence; Outbreak; Cyclases; Elements

Domaines: Bactériologie; Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

Jonas S. Madsen, Ole Hylling, Samuel Jacquiod, Sophie Pécastaings, Lars H. Hansen, et al.. An intriguing relationship between the cyclic diguanylate signaling system and horizontal gene transfer. The International Society of Microbiologial Ecology Journal, 2018, 12 (9), pp.2330-2334. ⟨10.1038/s41396-018-0183-0⟩. ⟨hal-02135635⟩