ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2016
Functional and Evolutionary Characterization of a Gene Transfer Agent's Multilocus "Genome".
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- The mechanism of biofilm degradation by a detachable tailspike of gene transfer agents.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Perturbations shift the composition of bacterial DNA carried by virus-like particles in the murine gut microbiome.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A bacterial CARD-NLR-like immune system controls the release of gene transfer agents.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Interactions and evolutionary relationships among bacterial mobile genetic elements.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Gene transfer agents: The ambiguous role of selfless viruses in genetic exchange and bacterial evolution.Molecular microbiology · 2025Review
- New evidence supports the prophage origin of RcGTA.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Control of a gene transfer agent cluster in Caulobacter crescentus by transcriptional activation and anti-termination.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Co-evolution of gene transfer agents and their alphaproteobacterial hosts.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- Virus-like Particles fromInsects · 2023Article
- Article
- Selection for Translational Efficiency in Genes Associated with Alphaproteobacterial Gene Transfer Agents.mSystems · 2022Article
- Prophage-like gene transfer agents promote Caulobacter crescentus survival and DNA repair during stationary phase.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Loss of the Rhodobacter capsulatus Serine Acetyl Transferase Gene,Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- A NovelMicrobiology spectrum · 2022Article
- The archetypal gene transfer agent RcGTA is regulated via direct interaction with the enigmatic RNA polymerase omega subunit.Cell reports · 2022Article
- Gene Transfer Agents in Bacterial Endosymbionts of Microbial Eukaryotes.Genome biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Formal recognition and classification of gene transfer agents as viriforms.Virus evolution · 2022Article
- Article
- A Novel Phage InfectingmSphere · 2021Article
- Genomic diversity of bacteriophages infecting Rhodobacter capsulatus and their relatedness to its gene transfer agent RcGTA.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Gene transfer agents (GTAs) are phage-like particles that can package and transfer a random piece of the producing cell's genome, but are unable to transfer all the genes required for their own production. As such, GTAs represent an evolutionary conundrum: are they selfish genetic elements propagating through an unknown mechanism, defective viruses, or viral structures "repurposed" by cells for gene exchange, as their name implies? In Rhodobacter capsulatus, production of the R. capsulatus GTA (RcGTA) particles is associated with a cluster of genes resembling a small prophage. Utilizing transcriptomic, genetic and biochemical approaches, we report that the RcGTA "genome" consists of at least 24 genes distributed across five distinct loci. We demonstrate that, of these additional loci, two are involved in cell recognition and binding and one in the production and maturation of RcGTA particles. The five RcGTA "genome" loci are widespread within Rhodobacterales, but not all loci have the same evolutionary histories. Specifically, two of the loci have been subject to frequent, probably virus-mediated, gene transfer events. We argue that it is unlikely that RcGTA is a selfish genetic element. Instead, our findings are compatible with the scenario that RcGTA is a virus-derived element maintained by the producing organism due to a selective advantage of within-population gene exchange. The modularity of the RcGTA "genome" is presumably a result of selection on the host organism to retain GTA functionality.
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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.