Nature Communications (Nov 2021)

Bacterial chromosomal mobility via lateral transduction exceeds that of classical mobile genetic elements

  • Suzanne Humphrey,
  • Alfred Fillol-Salom,
  • Nuria Quiles-Puchalt,
  • Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez,
  • Andreas F. Haag,
  • John Chen,
  • José R. Penadés

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26004-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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It is commonly thought that horizontal transfer of most bacterial chromosomal genes is limited, in comparison with the frequent transfer of mobile genetic elements. Humphrey et al. show that, actually, phage-mediated lateral transduction of core chromosomal genes can be more efficient than the transfer of mobile genetic elements via conjugation or generalized transduction.