Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

Amy Sterling; William J  Snelling; Patrick Naughton; Nigel G Ternan; JSG Dooley

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310

Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

Amy Sterling, William J Snelling, Patrick Naughton, Nigel G Ternan, JSG Dooley

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

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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.

Original language	English
Article number	e1008310
Pages (from-to)	1-19
Number of pages	19
Journal	PLoS Pathogens
Volume	16
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 2 Apr 2020

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title = "Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids",

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.",

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AU - Ternan, Nigel G

AU - Dooley, JSG

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AB - 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.

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Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

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