Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 16 December 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5755, pp. 1824 - 1827
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120096
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Chitin Induces Natural Competence in Vibrio cholerae

Karin L. Meibom,*{dagger} Melanie Blokesch,* Nadia A. Dolganov, Cheng-Yen Wu, Gary K. Schoolnik{dagger}

The mosaic-structured Vibrio cholerae genome points to the importance of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the evolution of this human pathogen. We showed that V. cholerae can acquire new genetic material by natural transformation during growth on chitin, a biopolymer that is abundant in aquatic habitats (e.g., from crustacean exoskeletons), where it lives as an autochthonous microbe. Transformation competence was found to require a type IV pilus assembly complex, a putative DNA binding protein, and three convergent regulatory cascades, which are activated by chitin, increasing cell density, and nutrient limitation, a decline in growth rate, or stress.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Stanford Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to the work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kmeibom{at}necker.fr (K.L.M.); schoolni{at}cmgm.stanford.edu (G.K.S.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Occurrence and Expression of Luminescence in Vibrio cholerae.
C. J. Grim, E. Taviani, M. Alam, A. Huq, R. B. Sack, and R. R. Colwell (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 708-715
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
RNA secondary structure regulates the translation of sxy and competence development in Haemophilus influenzae.
A. D.S. Cameron, M. Volar, L. A. Bannister, and R. J. Redfield (2008)
Nucleic Acids Res. 36, 10-20
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Three Pathogenicity Islands of Vibrio cholerae Can Excise from the Chromosome and Form Circular Intermediates.
R. A. Murphy and E. F. Boyd (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 636-647
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Are all horizontal gene transfers created equal? Prospects for mechanism-based studies of HGT patterns.
J. R. Zaneveld, D. R. Nemergut, and R. Knight (2008)
Microbiology 154, 1-15
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Conservation of the Chitin Utilization Pathway in the Vibrionaceae.
D. E. Hunt, D. Gevers, N. M. Vahora, and M. F. Polz (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 44-51
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Regulatory Networks Controlling Vibrio cholerae Virulence Gene Expression.
J. S. Matson, J. H. Withey, and V. J. DiRita (2007)
Infect. Immun. 75, 5542-5549
   Full Text »    PDF »
Recent Advances in the Expression, Evolution, and Dynamics of Prokaryotic Genomes.
C. M. Arraiano, J. Bamford, H. Brussow, A. J. Carpousis, V. Pelicic, K. Pfluger, P. Polard, and J. Vogel (2007)
J. Bacteriol. 189, 6093-6100
   Full Text »    PDF »
Emergence of a Virulent Clade of Vibrio vulnificus and Correlation with the Presence of a 33-Kilobase Genomic Island.
A. L. V. Cohen, J. D. Oliver, A. DePaola, E. J. Feil, and E. Fidelma Boyd (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 5553-5565
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Crystal Structure of the Vibrio cholerae Quorum-Sensing Regulatory Protein HapR.
R. S. De Silva, G. Kovacikova, W. Lin, R. K. Taylor, K. Skorupski, and F. J. Kull (2007)
J. Bacteriol. 189, 5683-5691
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Identification of 22 candidate structured RNAs in bacteria using the CMfinder comparative genomics pipeline.
Z. Weinberg, J. E. Barrick, Z. Yao, A. Roth, J. N. Kim, J. Gore, J. X. Wang, E. R. Lee, K. F. Block, N. Sudarsan, et al. (2007)
Nucleic Acids Res.
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quorum Sensing Enhances the Stress Response in Vibrio cholerae.
A. Joelsson, B. Kan, and J. Zhu (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 3742-3746
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Detection and Transformation of Genome Segments That Differ within a Coastal Population of Vibrio cholerae Strains.
M. C. Miller, D. P. Keymer, A. Avelar, A. B. Boehm, and G. K. Schoolnik (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 3695-3704
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genomic analysis of the Mozambique strain of Vibrio cholerae O1 reveals the origin of El Tor strains carrying classical CTX prophage.
S. M. Faruque, V. C. Tam, N. Chowdhury, P. Diraphat, M. Dziejman, J. F. Heidelberg, J. D. Clemens, J. J. Mekalanos, and G. B. Nair (2007)
PNAS 104, 5151-5156
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
2,3-Butanediol Synthesis and the Emergence of the Vibrio cholerae El Tor Biotype.
S. S. Yoon and J. J. Mekalanos (2006)
Infect. Immun. 74, 6547-6556
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Non-canonical CRP sites control competence regulons in Escherichia coli and many other {gamma}-proteobacteria.
A. D. S. Cameron and R. J. Redfield (2006)
Nucleic Acids Res. 34, 6001-6014
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Vibrio2005: the First International Conference on the Biology of Vibrios.
F. L. Thompson, K. E. Klose, and the AVIB Group (2006)
J. Bacteriol. 188, 4592-4596
   Full Text »    PDF »
Genomic island identification in Vibrio vulnificus reveals significant genome plasticity in this human pathogen.
A. M. Quirke, F. J. Reen, M. J. Claesson, and E. F. Boyd (2006)
Bioinformatics 22, 905-910
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products