Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF GENETICS, VOL 49
Volume 49, Issue -, Pages 577-601Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-genet-112414-055018
Keywords
ICE; conjugation; bacteria; gene transfer; Tn916; ICEBs1
Categories
Funding
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [R01GM050895] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NIGMS NIH HHS [GM050895, R01 GM050895] Funding Source: Medline
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Horizontal gene transfer plays a major role in microbial evolution, allowing microbes to acquire new genes and phenotypes. Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs, a.k.a. conjugative transposons) are modular mobile genetic elements integrated into a host genome and are passively propagated during chromosomal replication and cell division. Induction of ICE gene expression leads to excision, production of the conserved conjugation machinery (a type IV secretion system), and the potential to transfer DNA to appropriate recipients. ICEs typically contain cargo genes that are not usually related to the ICE life cycle and that confer phenotypes to host cells. We summarize the life cycle and discovery of ICEs, some of the regulatory mechanisms, and how the types of cargo have influenced our view of ICEs. We discuss how ICEs can acquire new cargo genes and describe challenges to the field and various perspectives on ICE biology.
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