Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Distribution of transposons Tn5044 and Tn5070 with noncanonical mer operons in environmental bacterial populations

  • Short Communications
  • Published:
Russian Journal of Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The distribution of noncanonical mercury resistance transposons, Tn5044 and Tn5070 , was examined. A characteristic feature of Tn5044 is temperature sensitivity of its mercury operon and the presence in the mer operon of the gene homologous to RNA polymerase ∑ subunit. Structural organization of mercury operon Tn5070 , containing minimum gene set (merRTPA), differs from mer operons of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. None of more than two thousand environmental bacterial strains displaying mercury resistance and isolated from the samples selected from different geographical regions hybridized to Tn5044- and Tn5070-specific probes. A concept on the existence of cosmopolite, endemic, and rare transposons in environmental bacterial populations was formulated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

REFERENCES

  1. A.M. Osborn K.D. Bruce P. Strike D.A. Ritchie (1997) ArticleTitleDistribution, Diversity and Evolution of the Bacterial Mercury Resistance (mer) Operon FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 19 239–262

    Google Scholar 

  2. J.L. Hobman N.L. Brown (1997) Bacterial Mercury Resistance Genes H. Sigel A. Sigel (Eds) Metal Ions in Biological Systems Marcel Dekker New York 527–567

    Google Scholar 

  3. T. Barkay S.M. Miller A.O. Summers (2003) ArticleTitleBacterial Mercury Resistance from Atoms to Ecosystems FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 27 355–384

    Google Scholar 

  4. A.J. Pearson K.D. Bruce A.M. Osborn et al. (1996) ArticleTitleDistribution of Class II Transposase and Resolvase Genes in Soil Bacteria and Their Association with mer Genes Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62 2961–2965

    Google Scholar 

  5. C.A. Liebert J. Wireman T. Smith A.O. Summers (1997) ArticleTitlePhylogeny of Mercury Resistance (mer) Operons of Gram-Negative Bacteria Isolated from the Fecal Flora of Primates Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63 1066–1076

    Google Scholar 

  6. O. Yurieva G. Kholodii L. Minakhin et al. (1997) ArticleTitleIntercontinental Spread of Promiscuous Mercury Resistance Operons in Environmental Bacteria Mol. Microbiol. 24 321–329

    Google Scholar 

  7. E.S. Bogdanova I.A. Bass L.S. Minakhin et al. (1998) ArticleTitleHorizontal Spread of mer Operons among Gram-Positive Bacteria in Natural Environments Microbiology 144 609–620

    Google Scholar 

  8. C.A. Liebert R.M. Hall A.O. Summers (1999) ArticleTitleTransposon Tn21, Flagship of the Floating Genome Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 63 507–522

    Google Scholar 

  9. S. Minakhina G. Kholodii S.Z. Mindlin et al. (1999) ArticleTitleTn5053 Family Transposons Are res Sites Hunters Sensing Plasmidal res Sites Occupied by Cognate Resolvase Mol. Microbiol. 33 1059–1068

    Google Scholar 

  10. E. Bogdanova L. Minakhin I. Bass et al. (2001) ArticleTitleClass II Broad-Spectrum Mercury Resistance Transposons in Gram-Positive Bacteria from Natural Environments Res. Microbiol. 152 503–514

    Google Scholar 

  11. S. Mindlin G. Kholodii Zh. Gorlenko et al. (2001) ArticleTitleMercury Resistance Transposons of Gram-Negative Environmental Bacteria and Their Classification Res. Microbiol. 152 811–822

    Google Scholar 

  12. S.Z. Mindlin I.A. Bass E.S. Bogdanova et al. (2002) ArticleTitleHorizontal Transfer of Mercury Resistance Genes in Environmental Bacterial Populations Mol. Biol. 36 IssueID2 216–227

    Google Scholar 

  13. G.Ya. Kholodii S.Z. Mindlin I.A. Bass et al. (1995) ArticleTitleFour Genes, Two Ends, and a res Region Are Involved in Transposition of Tn5053: A Paradigm for a Novel Family of Transposons Carrying Either a mer Operon or an Integron Mol. Microbiol. 17 1189–1200

    Google Scholar 

  14. G.Ya. Kholodii O.V. Yurieva Zh.M. Gorlenko et al. (1997) ArticleTitleTn5041: A Chimeric Mercury Resistance Transposon Closely Related to a Toluene Degradative Transposon Tn4651 Microbiology 143 2549–2556

    Google Scholar 

  15. G. Kholodii Zh. Gorlenko S. Mindlin et al. (2002) ArticleTitleTn5041-Like Transposons: Molecular Diversity, Evolutionary Relationships and Distribution of Distinct Variants in Environmental Bacteria Microbiology 148 3569–3582

    Google Scholar 

  16. G. Kholodii O. Yurieva S. Mindlin et al. (2000) ArticleTitleTn5044, a Novel Tn3 Family Transposon Coding for Temperature-Sensitive Mercury Resistance Res. Microbiol. 151 291–302

    Google Scholar 

  17. G. Kholodii E. Bogdanova (2002) ArticleTitleTn5044-Conferred Mercury Resistance Depends on Temperature: The Complexity of the Character of Thermosensitivity Genetics 115 233–241

    Google Scholar 

  18. J.D. Helmann Y. Wang I. Mahler C.T. Walsh (1989) ArticleTitleHomologous Metalloregulatory Proteins from Both Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria Control Transcription of Mercury Resistance Operons J. Bacteriol. 171 222–229

    Google Scholar 

  19. N.L. Brown J.V. Stoyanov S.P. Kidd J.L. Hobman (2003) ArticleTitleThe MerR Family of Transcriptional Regulators FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 27 145–163

    Google Scholar 

  20. A.M. Osborn K.D. Bruce D.A. Rithie P. Strike (1996) ArticleTitleThe Mercury Resistance Operon of the IncJ Plasmid pMERPH Exhibits Structural and Regulatory Divergence from Other Gram-Negative mer Operons Microbiology 142 337–345

    Google Scholar 

  21. K. Iohara R. Iiyama K. Nakamura et al. (2001) ArticleTitleThe mer Operon of a Mercury-Resistant Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis Strain Isolated from Minamata Bay, Japan Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 56 736–741

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123182, Moscow, Russia

    Zh. M. Gorlenko, E. S. Kalyaeva, I. A. Bass, M. A. Petrova & S. Z. Mindlin

Authors
  1. Zh. M. Gorlenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E. S. Kalyaeva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. I. A. Bass
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. A. Petrova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S. Z. Mindlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Translated from Genetika, Vol. 40, No. 12, 2004, pp. 1717–1721.

Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Gorlenko, Kalyaeva, Bass, Petrova, Mindlin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gorlenko, Z.M., Kalyaeva, E.S., Bass, I.A. et al. Distribution of transposons Tn5044 and Tn5070 with noncanonical mer operons in environmental bacterial populations. Russ J Genet 40, 1426–1429 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11177-005-0016-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11177-005-0016-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation