ArticleNucleic acids research2016
Horizontal transfer of DNA methylation patterns into bacterial chromosomes.
Article in Nucleic acids research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-read metagenomics and methylation-based binning support the discovery of antibiotic resistance gene-host associations in complex communities.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Phase Variation in Bacterial Adaptation to Environmental Stress: A Narrative Review.Current microbiology · 2026Review
- Epigenetic modifications in cancer drug resistance: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic interventions.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Epigenetic regulation and antimicrobial resistance: functional roles of DNA methylation.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- DNA methylation affects gene expression but not global chromatin structure inJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- A roadmap to understanding and anticipating microbial gene transfer in soil communities.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Emerging methylation-based approaches in microbiome engineering.Biotechnology for biofuels and bioproducts · 2024Review
- Article
- Distinct heterochromatin-like domains promote transcriptional memory and silence parasitic genetic elements in bacteria.The EMBO journal · 2022Article
- Functions predict horizontal gene transfer and the emergence of antibiotic resistance.Science advances · 2021Article
- Outer membrane vesicles mediated horizontal transfer of an aerobic denitrification gene between Escherichia coli.Biodegradation · 2021Article
- Multidrug Resistance (MDR) and Collateral Sensitivity in Bacteria, with Special Attention to Genetic and Evolutionary Aspects and to the Perspectives of Antimicrobial Peptides-A Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Antibiotic Resistance and Epigenetics: More to It than Meets the Eye.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2020Review
- Horizontal Gene Transfer: From Evolutionary Flexibility to Disease Progression.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the non-inherited acquisition of novel DNA sequences. HGT is common and important in bacteria because it enables the rapid generation of new phenotypes such as antibiotic resistance. Here we show that in vivo and in vitro DNA methylation patterns can be horizontally transferred into bacterial chromosomes to program cell phenotypes. The experiments were performed using a synthetic system in Escherichia coli where different DNA methylation patterns within the cis-regulatory sequence of the agn43 gene turn on or off a fluorescent reporter (CFP). With this system we demonstrated that DNA methylation patterns not only accompany the horizontal transfer of genes into the bacterial cytoplasm but can be transferred into chromosomes by: (i) bacteriophage P1 transduction; and (ii) transformation of extracellular synthetic DNA. We also modified the experimental system by replacing CFP with the SgrS small RNA, which regulates glucose and methyl α-D-glucoside uptake, and showed that horizontally acquired DNA methylation patterns can increase or decrease cell fitness. That is, horizontally acquired DNA methylation patterns can result in the selection for and against cells that have HGT. Findings from these proof-of-concept experiments have applications in synthetic biology and potentially broad implications for bacterial adaptation and evolution.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.