ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2013
Bacterial natural transformation by highly fragmented and damaged DNA.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 201 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic and functional characterization of the natural transformation system inMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Expression of a phage RecET recombinase system improves detection of shorter DNA fragments by anmicroPublication biology · 2026Article
- Silica Nanoparticles Block Natural Genetic Transformation inACS omega · 2025Article
- Polymer Length Governs DNA Adsorption Dynamics on Mineral Surfaces.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Exploiting β-Lactams-Induced Lysis and DNA Fragmentation for Rapid Molecular Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae via Dual-Digital PCR.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Non-Canonical Aspects of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Recurrence and propagation of past functions through mineral facilitated horizontal gene transfer.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Metacommunity structure preserves genome diversity in the presence of gene-specific selective sweeps under moderate rates of horizontal gene transfer.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Testing for the fitness benefits of natural transformation during community-embedded evolution.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2023Article
- Segregational drift hinders the evolution of antibiotic resistance on polyploid replicons.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Catch me if you can: capturing microbial community transformation by extracellular DNA using Hi-C sequencing.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2023Article
- Efficient plasmid transfer via natural competence in a microbial co-culture.Molecular systems biology · 2023Article
- Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospital wastewater treatment plant effluent and the possible consequences of its reuse in agricultural irrigation.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Blood Bacteria-Free DNA in Septic Mice Enhances LPS-Induced Inflammation in Mice through Macrophage Response.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- The Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Vivo Model.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2022Review
- Comparative analysis ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Segregational Drift Constrains the Evolutionary Rate of Prokaryotic Plasmids.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Metallo-β-lactamases in the Age of Multidrug Resistance: From Structure and Mechanism to Evolution, Dissemination, and Inhibitor Design.Chemical reviews · 2021Review
- Evidence of Horizontal Gene Transfer of 50S Ribosomal GenesFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 8 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
DNA molecules are continuously released through decomposition of organic matter and are ubiquitous in most environments. Such DNA becomes fragmented and damaged (often <100 bp) and may persist in the environment for more than half a million years. Fragmented DNA is recognized as nutrient source for microbes, but not as potential substrate for bacterial evolution. Here, we show that fragmented DNA molecules (≥ 20 bp) that additionally may contain abasic sites, cross-links, or miscoding lesions are acquired by the environmental bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi through natural transformation. With uptake of DNA from a 43,000-y-old woolly mammoth bone, we further demonstrate that such natural transformation events include ancient DNA molecules. We find that the DNA recombination is RecA recombinase independent and is directly linked to DNA replication. We show that the adjacent nucleotide variations generated by uptake of short DNA fragments escape mismatch repair. Moreover, double-nucleotide polymorphisms appear more common among genomes of transformable than nontransformable bacteria. Our findings reveal that short and damaged, including truly ancient, DNA molecules, which are present in large quantities in the environment, can be acquired by bacteria through natural transformation. Our findings open for the possibility that natural genetic exchange can occur with DNA up to several hundreds of thousands years old.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.