II. THE
PROKARYOTIC CELL: BACTERIA
B.
PROKARYOTIC CELL ANATOMY
3.
Cellular Components Located Within the Cytoplasm
c.
Plasmids and Transposons
Fundamental Statements for this Learning Object:
1. Many bacteria often contain small nonchromosomal DNA molecules called plasmids.
2. While plasmids are not essential for normal bacterial growth and bacteria may lose or gain them without harm, they can provide an advantage under certain environmental conditions.
3. Plasmids code for synthesis of a few proteins not coded for by the bacterial chromosome.
4. Transposons (jumping genes) are small pieces of DNA that encode enzymes that enable the transposon to, move from one DNA location to another.
5. Transposons may be found as part of a bacterium's chromosome or in plasmids
6. Integrons are transposons that can carry multiple gene clusters called gene cassettes that move as a unit from one piece of DNA to another
7. Horizontal gene transfer is a process in which an organism transfers genetic material to another cell that is not its offspring.
8. Horizontal gene transfer is able to cause rather large-scale changes in a bacterial genome.
9. The ability of Bacteria and Archaea to adapt to new environments as a part of bacterial evolution, most frequently results from the acquisition of new genes through horizontal gene transfer rather than by the alteration of gene functions through mutations.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES FOR THIS SECTION
In this section on Prokaryotic Cell
Anatomy we are looking at the various anatomical parts that make up
a bacterium. As mentioned in the introduction to this section, a typical bacterium
usually consists of:
- a cytoplasmic membrane surrounded
by a peptidoglycan cell wall and maybe an outer membrane;
- a fluid cytoplasm containing
a nuclear region (nucleoid) and numerous ribosomes; and
- often various external structures
such as a glycocalyx, flagella, and pili.
We will
now look at plasmids and transposons.
Plasmids
(def)
and Transposons
(def)
In addition to the bacterial chromosome, many
bacteria often contain small nonchromosomal DNA molecules called plasmids.
Plasmids usually contain between 5 and 100 genes.
Plasmids are not essential for normal bacterial growth and bacteria may lose
or gain them without harm. They can, however, provide an advantage under
certain environmental conditions. For example, under normal environmental
growth conditions, bacteria are not usually exposed to antibiotics and having
a plasmid coding for an enzyme capable of denaturing a particular antibiotic
is of no value. However, if that bacterium finds itself in the body when the
particular antibiotic that the plasmid-coded enzyme is able to degrade is
being given to treat an infection, the bacterium containing the plasmid is
able to survive and grow.
A. Structure and Composition
Plasmids (def) are small molecules of double stranded, helical,
non-chromosomal DNA. In most plasmids the two ends of the double-stranded
DNA molecule that make up plasmids covalently bond together forming
a physical circle. Some plasmids, however, have linear DNA.
Plasmids replicate independently of the host chromosome, but some plasmids, called episomes (def), are able to insert or integrate into the host cell’s chromosome where their replication is then regulated by the chromosome.
Although some plasmids can be transmitted from one bacterium to another by transformation (def) and by generalized transduction (def), the most common mechanism of plasmid transfer is conjugation (def). Plasmids that can be transmitted by cell-to-cell contact are called conjugative plasmids (def). They contain genes coding for proteins involved in both DNA transfer and and the formation of mating pairs.
B.
Functions
Plasmids
code for synthesis of a few proteins not coded for by the bacterial chromosome.
For example, R-plasmids, found in some Gram-negative bacteria, often
have genes coding for both production of a conjugation pilus (discussed later
in this unit) and multiple antibiotic resistance. Through a process called
conjugation,
the conjugation pilus enables the bacterium to transfer a copy of the R-plasmids
to other bacteria, making them also multiple antibiotic resistant and able
to produce a conjugation pilus. In addition, some exotoxins, such as the tetanus exotoxin, Escherichia coli enterotoxin, and E. coli shiga toxin discussed later in Unit 2 under Bacterial Pathogenicity, are also coded for by plasmids. Thousands of different plasmids are known to exist.
C. Transposons
Transposons (transposable
elements or "jumping genes" (def)) are small pieces of DNA that encode enzymes
that transpose the transposon, that is, move it from one DNA location
to another, either on the same molecule of DNA or on a different molecule.
Transposons may be found as part of a bacterium's nucleoid (conjugative
transposons) or in plasmids and are usually between one and twelve genes
long. A transposon contains a number of genes, coding for antibiotic resistance
or other traits, flanked at both ends by insertion sequences coding for
an enzyme called transpoase. Transpoase is the enzyme that catalyzes
the cutting and resealing of the DNA during transposition. Thus, such transposons
are able to cut themselves out of a bacterial nucleoid or a plasmid and
insert themselves into another nucleoid or plasmid and contribute in the
transmission of antibiotic resistance among a population of bacteria.
Plasmids can also acquire a number
of different antibiotic resistance genes by means of integrons. Integrons
(def) are transposons that can carry multiple gene clusters called gene cassettes
that move as a unit from one piece of DNA to another. An enzyme called
integrase enables these gene cassettes to integrate and accumulate within
the integron. In this way, a number of different antibiotic resistance genes
can be transferred as a unit from one bacterium to another.
Plasmids and conjugative transposons
are very important in horizontal gene transfer in bacteria. Horizontal
gene transfer (def), also known as lateral gene transfer, is a process
in which an organism transfers genetic material to another organism that is not
its offspring. The ability of Bacteria and Archaea
to adapt to new environments as a part of bacterial evolution most frequently
results from the acquisition of new genes through horizontal gene transfer
rather than by the alteration of gene functions through mutations. (It is estimated that as much as 20% of the genome of Escherichia coli originated from horizontal gene transfer.)
Horizontal gene transfer is able to cause rather large-scale changes in a bacterial genome. For example, certain bacteria contain multiple virulence (def) genes called pathogenicity islands (def) that are located on large, unstable regions of the bacterial genome. These pathogenicity islands can be transmitted to other bacteria by horizontal gene transfer. However, if these transferred genes provide no selective advantage to the bacteria that acquire them, they are usually lost by deletion. In this way the size of the bacterium's genome can remain approximately the same size over time.
Because bacteria are always taking in new DNA from horizontal gene transfer or being infected by bacteriophages (def), bacteria have developed a system for removing viral nucleic acid or DNA from self-serving or harmful plasmids. This system represents a type of adaptive immunity in bacteria, and is carried out by clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) sequences and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins that possess nuclease activity. The CRISPR/Cas system targets specific foreign DNA sequences in bacteria for destruction.
Applications of CRISPR technology has now become a common tool used in molecular biology for CRISPR/nuclease mediated genome editing (genetic engineering) in a wide variety of different cell types. Molecular biologists are now beginning to use this to carry out highly efficient, targeted alterations of genome sequence and gene expression and hope to eventually use it to repair damaged or dysfunctional genes.
Gary E. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology
The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work The Grapes of Staph at https://cwoer.ccbcmd.edu/science/microbiology/index_gos.html.
Last updated: Feb., 20218
Please send comments and inquiries to Dr.
Gary Kaiser