AUTHOR=De Maayer Pieter , Chan Wai-Yin , Martin Douglas A. J. , Blom Jochen , Venter Stephanus N. , Duffy Brion , Cowan Don A. , Smits Theo H. M. , Coutinho Teresa A. 

TITLE=Integrative conjugative elements of the ICEPan family play a potential role in Pantoea ananatis ecological diversification and antibiosis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00576

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.00576

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Pantoea ananatis</italic> is a highly versatile enterobacterium isolated from diverse environmental sources. The ecological diversity of this species may be attributed, in part, to the acquisition of mobile genetic elements. One such element is an Integrative and Conjugative Element (ICE). By means of <italic>in silico</italic> analyses the ICE elements belonging to a novel family, ICE<italic>Pan</italic>, were identified in the genome sequences of five <italic>P. ananatis</italic> strains and characterized. PCR screening showed that ICE<italic>Pan</italic> is prevalent among <italic>P. ananatis</italic> strains isolated from different environmental sources and geographic locations. Members of the ICE<italic>Pan</italic> family share a common origin with ICEs of other enterobacteria, as well as conjugative plasmids of <italic>Erwinia</italic> spp. Aside from core modules for ICE<italic>Pan</italic> integration, maintenance and dissemination, the ICE<italic>Pan</italic> contain extensive non-conserved islands coding for proteins that may contribute toward various phenotypes such as stress response and antibiosis, and the highly diverse ICE<italic>Pan</italic> thus plays a major role in the diversification of <italic>P. ananatis</italic>. An island is furthermore integrated within an ICE<italic>Pan</italic> DNA repair-encoding locus <italic>umuDC</italic> and we postulate its role in stress-induced dissemination and/or expression of the genes on this island.</p>