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

26 Citations (Scopus)

114 Downloads (Pure)

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

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310Licence: CC BY

journal.ppat.1008310Final published version, 863 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{2885e2d57d0e4e039d02287f78b642bb,

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.",

author = "Amy Sterling and Snelling, \{William J\} and Patrick Naughton and Ternan, \{Nigel G\} and JSG Dooley",

year = "2020",

month = apr,

day = "2",

doi = "10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

pages = "1--19",

journal = "PLoS Pathogens",

issn = "1553-7366",

publisher = "PLoS",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

AU - Sterling, Amy

AU - Snelling, William J

AU - Naughton, Patrick

AU - Ternan, Nigel G

AU - Dooley, JSG

PY - 2020/4/2

Y1 - 2020/4/2

N2 - 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.

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.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85082980296

U2 - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310

DO - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310

M3 - Review article

C2 - 32240270

SN - 1553-7366

VL - 16

SP - 1

EP - 19

JO - PLoS Pathogens

JF - PLoS Pathogens

IS - 4

M1 - e1008310

ER -

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

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this