The role of integrons in antibiotic resistance gene capture

Authors: Rowe-Magnus D.A.^{1, 2}; Mazel D.³

Source: International Journal of Medical Microbiology, Volume 292, Number 2, July 2002 , pp. 115-125(11)

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Abstract:

Although recently discovered, integrons have played a primordial role in the evolution of bacterial genomes. They are best known as the genetic agents responsible for the capture and spread of antibiotic resistance determinants among diverse Gram-negative clinical isolates, and this activity is at the root of the antibiotic resistance phenomenon that has evolved over the last 60 years. The discovery of the ancestral chromosomal super-integrons, novel integron classes, and the multitude of gene cassettes they propagate solidify the crucial role of this system in adaptive bacterial evolution. Recent evidence suggests that evolutionarily old genetic recombination mechanisms for gene transfer have been adapted to the new antibiotic environment due to the heavy selective pressure of liberal antibiotic use in human medicine and animal husbandry.

Keywords: integron; antibiotic resistance; evolution; lateral gene transfer

Language: English

Document Type: Original article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Microbiology, Division of Clinical Integrative Biology, Sunnybrook and Women's College Hospital Health Sciences Centre Research Institute, Toronto, Canada 2: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 3: Unité de Programmation Moléculaire et Toxicologie Génétique, CNRS URA 1444, Département de Microbiologie Médicale et Fondamentale, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Publication date: 2002-07-01