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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2025

Screening Foodstuffs for Class 1 Integrons and Gene Cassettes

Screening Foodstuffs for Class 1 Integrons and Gene Cassettes

Published on: June 19, 2015

Mobile integrons encode phage defense systems.

Nicolas Kieffer^1,2, Alberto Hipólito^1,2, Laura Ortiz-Miravalles^1,2

¹Molecular Basis of Adaptation Laboratory, Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|May 8, 2025

Summary

Mobile integrons (MIs) carry gene cassettes conferring phage resistance, acting as defense islands. These elements combine drug and phage resistance, with variable fitness costs depending on cassette arrangement.

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Area of Science:

Microbiology
Genetics
Bacterial Evolution

Background:

Integrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture and modulate gene expression via cassettes.
Mobile integrons (MIs) on plasmids facilitate the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes in pathogens.
Gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus) within MIs have unexplored roles.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the function of gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus) within mobile integrons.
To determine if gcus encode adaptive traits beyond antimicrobial resistance.
To characterize the nature and implications of phage resistance encoded by gcus.

Main Methods:

Bioinformatic analysis of integron cassette sequences.
Experimental validation of gcu functions.
Assessment of fitness costs associated with different cassette arrays.

Main Results:

Gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus) encode diverse and novel phage resistance systems, termed bacteriophage resistance integron cassettes (BRiCs).
BRiCs can be combined with antimicrobial resistance cassettes, creating arrays conferring resistance to both drugs and multiple phages.
The fitness cost of BRiCs is context-dependent and can be modulated by altering cassette order within the integron.

Conclusions:

Mobile integrons function as adaptable defense islands, acquiring and deploying both antimicrobial and phage resistance genes.
The discovery of BRiCs expands our understanding of bacterial defense mechanisms and integron evolution.
Mobile integrons represent a significant factor in bacterial adaptation and pathogen evolution by providing low-cost, multi-faceted resistance strategies.