Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

PLoS Pathog. 2020 Apr 2;16(4):e1008310. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008310. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Enterococci are robust gram-positive bacteria that are found in a variety of surroundings and that cause a significant number of healthcare-associated infections. The genus possesses a high-efficiency pheromone-responsive plasmid (PRP) transfer system for genetic exchange that allows antimicrobial-resistance determinants to spread within bacterial populations. The pCF10 plasmid system is the best characterised, and although other PRP systems are structurally similar, they lack exact functional homologues of pCF10-encoded genes. In this review, we provide an overview of the enterococcal PRP systems, incorporating functional details for the less-well-defined systems. We catalogue the virulence-associated elements of the PRPs that have been identified to date, and we argue that this reinforces the requirement for elucidation of the less studied systems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
  • Conjugation, Genetic
  • DNA, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Enterococcus faecalis / genetics*
  • Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / microbiology*
  • Humans
  • Pheromones / physiology*
  • Plasmids / genetics*
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Pheromones

Grants and funding

The authors acknowledge support from the Department for the Economy (DfE). AJS was the recipient of a funded PhD studentship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.