An intriguing relationship between the cyclic diguanylate signaling system and horizontal gene transfer.
Jonas S MadsenOle HyllingSamuel JacquiodSophia PécastaingsLars H HansenLeise RiberGisle VestergaardSøren Johannes SørensenPublished in: The ISME journal (2018)
The second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) is ubiquitously used by bacteria to modulate and shift between different phenotypes including motility, biofilm formation and virulence. Here we show that c-di-GMP-associated genes are widespread on plasmids and that enzymes that synthesize or degrade c-di-GMP are preferentially encoded on transmissible plasmids. Additionally, expression of enzymes that synthesize c-di-GMP was found to increase both biofilm formation and, interestingly, conjugative plasmid transfer rates.