Characterisation of mobile genetic elements in Mycoplasma hominis with the description of ICEHo-II, a variant mycoplasma
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Characterisation of mobile genetic elements in Mycoplasma hominis with the description of ICEHo-II, a variant mycoplasma integrative and conjugative element Birgit Henrich1* , Stephanie Hammerlage1, Sebastian Scharf1,2, Diana Haberhausen1, Ursula Fürnkranz3, Karl Köhrer4, Lena Peitzmann4, Pier Luigi Fiori5, Joachim Spergser6, Klaus Pfeffer1 and Alexander T. Dilthey1,7,8
Abstract Background: Mobile genetic elements are found in genomes throughout the microbial world, mediating genome plasticity and important prokaryotic phenotypes. Even the cell wall-less mycoplasmas, which are known to harbour a minimal set of genes, seem to accumulate mobile genetic elements. In Mycoplasma hominis, a facultative pathogen of the human urogenital tract and an inherently very heterogeneous species, four different MGE-classes had been detected until now: insertion sequence ISMhom-1, prophage MHoV-1, a tetracycline resistance mediating transposon, and ICEHo, a species-specific variant of a mycoplasma integrative and conjugative element encoding a T4SS secretion system (termed MICE). Results: To characterize the prevalence of these MGEs, genomes of 23 M. hominis isolates were assembled using whole genome sequencing and bioinformatically analysed for the presence of mobile genetic elements. In addition to the previously described MGEs, a new ICEHo variant was found, which we designate ICEHo-II. Of 15 ICEHo-II genes, five are common MICE genes; eight are unique to ICEHo-II; and two represent a duplication of a gene also present in ICEHo-I. In 150 M. hominis isolates and based on a screening PCR, prevalence of ICEHo-I was 40.7%; of ICEHo-II, 28.7%; and of both elements, 15.3%. Activity of ICEHo-I and -II was demonstrated by detection of circularized extrachromosomal forms of the elements through PCR and subsequent Sanger sequencing. Conclusions: Nanopore sequencing enabled the identification of mobile genetic elements and of ICEHo-II, a novel MICE element of M. hominis, whose phenotypic impact and potential impact on pathogenicity can now be elucidated. Keywords: Mobile genetic element, Mycoplasma, M. hominis, Nanopore sequencing
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Institute of Med. Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene of the Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by st
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