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Enterococcus faecalis prophage dynamics and contributions to pathogenic traits

PLoS Genetics publish this investigation article

June 6th, 2013

Polylysogeny is frequently considered to be the result of an adaptive evolutionary process in which prophages confer fitness and/or virulence factors, thus making them important for evolution of both bacterial populations and infectious diseases. The Enterococcus faecalis V583 isolate belongs to the high-risk clonal complex 2 that is particularly well adapted to the hospital environment. Its genome carries 7 prophage-like elements (V583-pp1 to -pp7), one of which is ubiquitous in the species. In this study, we investigated the activity of the V583 prophages and their contribution to E. faecalis biological traits. We systematically analyzed the ability of each prophage to excise from the bacterial chromosome, to replicate and to package its DNA. We also created a set of E. faecalis isogenic strains that lack from one to all six non-ubiquitous prophages by mimicking natural excision. Our work reveals that prophages of E. faecalis V583 excise from the bacterial chromosome in the presence of a fluoroquinolone, and are able to produce active phage progeny. Intricate interactions between V583 prophages were also unveiled: i) pp7, coined EfCIV583 for E. faecalis chromosomal island of V583, hijacks capsids from helper phage 1, leading to the formation of distinct virions, and ii) pp1, pp3 and pp5 inhibit excision of pp4 and pp6. The hijacking exerted by EfCIV583 on helper phage 1 capsids is the first example of molecular piracy in Gram positive bacteria other than staphylococci. Furthermore, prophages encoding platelet-binding-like proteins were found to be involved in adhesion to human platelets, considered as a first step towards the development of infective endocarditis. Our findings reveal not only a role of E. faecalis V583 prophages in pathogenicity, but also provide an explanation for the correlation between antibiotic usage and E. faecalis success as a nosocomial pathogen, as fluoriquinolone may provoke release of prophages and promote gene dissemination among isolates




Matos RC., Lapaque N., Rigottier-Gois L., Debarbieux L., Meylheuc T., Gonzalez-Zorn B., Repoila F., Lopes F. and Serror P.




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Enterococcus faecalis prophage dynamics and contributions to pathogenic traits

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Enterococcus faecalis prophage dynamics and contributions to pathogenic traits



Participants:

Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agronómica de FranciaInstituto Nacional de Investigación Agronómica de Francia (INRA).

Institut des Sciences et Industries du Vivant et de L´environnement (AgroParisTech).

Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB). Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL).

Institut PasteurDépartement de Microbiologie. Institut Pasteur.

Universidad ComplutenseServicio de Zoonosis de Transmisión Alimentaria y Resistencia a Antimicrobianos (ZTA). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).

Universidad ComplutenseDepartamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).

Instituto de Biología Experimental Tecnológica (IBET).







PLoS Genetics
FACTOR YEAR Q
8.167 2013

NLMID: 101239074

PMID: 23754962

ISSN: 1553-7404



TITLE: Enterococcus faecalis prophage dynamics and contributions to pathogenic traits


JOURNAL: PLoS Genet


NUMERACIÓN: 9(6):e1003539


AÑO: 2013


PUBLISHER: PLOS


AUTHORS: Matos RC., Lapaque N., Rigottier-Gois L., Debarbieux L., Meylheuc T., Gonzalez-Zorn B., Repoila F., Lopes F. and Serror P.


Bruno González Zorn

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003539


CITE THIS PUBLICATION:

Matos RC., Lapaque N., Rigottier-Gois L., Debarbieux L., Meylheuc T., Gonzalez-Zorn B., Repoila F., Lopes F. and Serror P. Enterococcus faecalis prophage dynamics and contributions to pathogenic traits. PLoS Genetics. 9(6):e1003539. 2013. (A). ISSN: 1553-7404. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003539


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