TY - JOUR
T1 - Gene cassettes and cassette arrays in mobile resistance integrons
T2 - Review article
AU - Partridge, Sally R.
AU - Tsafnat, Guy
AU - Coiera, Enrico
AU - Iredell, Jonathan R.
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - Gene cassettes are small mobile elements, consisting of little more than a single gene and recombination site, which are captured by larger elements called integrons. Several cassettes may be inserted into the same integron forming a tandem array. The discovery of integrons in the chromosome of many species has led to the identification of thousands of gene cassettes, mostly of unknown function, while integrons associated with transposons and plasmids carry mainly antibiotic resistance genes and constitute an important means of spreading resistance. An updated compilation of gene cassettes found in sequences of such 'mobile resistance integrons' in GenBank was facilitated by a specially developed automated annotation system. At least 130 different (<98% identical) cassettes that carry known or predicted antibiotic resistance genes were identified, along with many cassettes of unknown function. We list exemplar GenBank accession numbers for each and address some nomenclature issues. Various modifications to cassettes, some of which may be useful in tracking cassette epidemiology, are also described. Despite potential biases in the GenBank dataset, preliminary analysis of cassette distribution suggests interesting differences between cassettes and may provide useful information to direct more systematic studies.
AB - Gene cassettes are small mobile elements, consisting of little more than a single gene and recombination site, which are captured by larger elements called integrons. Several cassettes may be inserted into the same integron forming a tandem array. The discovery of integrons in the chromosome of many species has led to the identification of thousands of gene cassettes, mostly of unknown function, while integrons associated with transposons and plasmids carry mainly antibiotic resistance genes and constitute an important means of spreading resistance. An updated compilation of gene cassettes found in sequences of such 'mobile resistance integrons' in GenBank was facilitated by a specially developed automated annotation system. At least 130 different (<98% identical) cassettes that carry known or predicted antibiotic resistance genes were identified, along with many cassettes of unknown function. We list exemplar GenBank accession numbers for each and address some nomenclature issues. Various modifications to cassettes, some of which may be useful in tracking cassette epidemiology, are also described. Despite potential biases in the GenBank dataset, preliminary analysis of cassette distribution suggests interesting differences between cassettes and may provide useful information to direct more systematic studies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=66749102064&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00175.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00175.x
M3 - Review article
C2 - 19416365
AN - SCOPUS:66749102064
SN - 0168-6445
VL - 33
SP - 757
EP - 784
JO - FEMS Microbiology Reviews
JF - FEMS Microbiology Reviews
IS - 4
ER -