AUTHOR=Chen Kaichao , Xie Miaomiao , Chan Edward Wai-Chi , Chen Sheng 

TITLE=Delineation of ISEcp1 and IS26-Mediated Plasmid Fusion Processes by MinION Single-Molecule Long-Read Sequencing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.796715

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.796715

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>We recently reported the recovery of a novel IncI1 type conjugative helper plasmid which could target mobile genetic elements (MGE) located in non-conjugative plasmid and form a fusion conjugative plasmid to mediate the horizontal transfer of the non-conjugative plasmid. In this study, interactions between the helper plasmid pSa42-91k and two common MGEs, IS<italic>Ecp1</italic> and IS<italic>15DI</italic>, which were cloned into a pBackZero-T vector, were monitored during the conjugation process to depict the molecular mechanisms underlying the plasmid fusion process mediated by insertion sequence (IS) elements. The MinION single-molecule long-read sequencing technology can dynamically reveal the plasmid recombination events and produce valuable information on genetic polymorphism and plasmid heterogeneity in different multidrug resistance (MDR) encoding bacteria. Such data would facilitate the development of new strategies to control evolution and dissemination of MDR plasmids.</p>