Publications

Horizontal transfer and evolution of wall teichoic acid gene cassettes in  Bacillus subtilis

Sutton G, Fogel GB, Abramson B, Brinkac L, Michael T, Liu ES, Thomas S

PMID: 35035886

Abstract

 Wall teichoic acid (WTA) genes are essential for production of cell walls in gram-positive bacteria and necessary for survival and variability in the cassette has led to recent antibiotic resistance acquisition in pathogenic bacteria.   Using a pan-genome approach, we examined the evolutionary history of WTA genes in   ssp.  .   Our analysis reveals an interesting pattern of evolution from the type-strain WTA gene cassette possibly resulting from horizontal acquisition from organisms with similar gene sequences. The WTA cassettes have a high level of variation which may be due to one or more independent horizontal transfer events during the evolution of   ssp.  . This swapping of entire WTA cassettes and smaller regions within the WTA cassettes is an unusual feature in the evolution of the   genome and highlights the importance of horizontal transfer of gene cassettes through homologous recombination within   or other bacterial species.   Reduced sequence conservation of these WTA cassettes may indicate a modified function like the previously documented WTA ribitol/glycerol variation. An improved understanding of high-frequency recombination of gene cassettes has ramifications for synthetic biology and the use of   in industry.