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Hijackers, hitchhikers, or co-drivers? The mysteries of mobilizable genetic elements.

Authors :
Ares-Arroyo M
Coluzzi C
Moura de Sousa JA
Rocha EPC
Source :
PLoS biology [PLoS Biol] 2024 Aug 29; Vol. 22 (8), pp. e3002796. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 29 (Print Publication: 2024).
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Mobile genetic elements shape microbial gene repertoires and populations. Recent results reveal that many, possibly most, microbial mobile genetic elements require helpers to transfer between genomes, which we refer to as Hitcher Genetic Elements (hitchers or HGEs). They may be a large fraction of pathogenicity and resistance genomic islands, whose mechanisms of transfer have remained enigmatic for decades. Together with their helper elements and their bacterial hosts, hitchers form tripartite networks of interactions that evolve rapidly within a parasitism-mutualism continuum. In this emerging view of microbial genomes as communities of mobile genetic elements many questions arise. Which elements are being moved, by whom, and how? How often are hitchers costly hyper-parasites or beneficial mutualists? What is the evolutionary origin of hitchers? Are there key advantages associated with hitchers' lifestyle that justify their unexpected abundance? And why are hitchers systematically smaller than their helpers? In this essay, we start answering these questions and point ways ahead for understanding the principles, origin, mechanisms, and impact of hitchers in bacterial ecology and evolution.<br />Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.<br /> (Copyright: © 2024 Ares-Arroyo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1545-7885
Volume :
22
Issue :
8
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
PLoS biology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
39208359
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002796