Bardají Goikoetxea, LeireEcheverría Ancín, MyriamRodríguez Palenzuela, PabloMartínez García, Pedro M.Murillo Martínez, Jesús2017-04-102017-04-1020172045-2322 (Print)2045-2322 (Electronic)10.1038/srep46254https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/24088Incluye 9 ficheros de datosIntegrases are a family of tyrosine recombinases that are highly abundant in bacterial genomes, actively disseminating adaptive characters such as pathogenicity determinants and antibiotics resistance. Using comparative genomics and functional assays, we identified a novel type of mobile genetic element, the GInt, in many diverse bacterial groups but not in archaea. Integrated as genomic islands, GInts show a tripartite structure consisting of the ginABCD operon, a cargo DNA region from 2.5 to at least 70 kb, and a short AT-rich 3′ end. The gin operon is characteristic of GInts and codes for three putative integrases and a small putative helix-loop-helix protein, all of which are essential for integration and excision of the element. Genes in the cargo DNA are acquired mostly from phylogenetically related bacteria and often code for traits that might increase fitness, such as resistance to antimicrobials or virulence. GInts also tend to capture clusters of genes involved in complex processes, such as the biosynthesis of phaseolotoxin by Pseudomonas syringae. GInts integrate site-specifically, generating two flanking direct imperfect repeats, and excise forming circular molecules. The excision process generates sequence variants at the element attachment site, which can increase frequency of integration and drive target specificity.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material.Mobile genetic elementPhaseolotoxinAntimetabolite toxinIntegronsVirulence genesHorizontal gene transferinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleAcceso abierto / Sarbide irekiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess