アブストラクト
| Date | 14:00-14:40 Jun 23, 2026 |
| Speaker | Sotaro Takano Bioresource Research Center, RIKEN, Japan |
| Title | Enrichment of Horizontally Transferred Gene Clusters in Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles |
| Abstract |
Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs), crucial mediators of microbial interactions, are recently emerging as key mediators of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and modulating microbial adaptability in the environment. A critical factor determining the effectiveness of HGT is the fraction of BEVs containing specific functional genes. However, due to technical difficulties in analyzing trace amounts of the packaged DNA, the proportion of BEVs containing specific DNA fragments has not adequately determined, which has hindered the understanding the potential evolutionary roles of BEVs. In this talk, I introduce that enrichment of horizontally transferred genes into BEVs is prevalent among BEV population. Applying a droplet-based sequencing approach to oral bacteria, we comprehensively profiled the DNA content of hundreds of individual BEVs and revealed the overrepresentation of gene clusters with specific functional categories, represented by transposons and CRISPR-Cas clusters. Applying our technique to BEVs from oral microbiota, we discovered the overrepsentation of specific short genomic regions, consisted of O-antigen biosynthetic genes, key for host-bacterial interactions, were prevalent in the BEVs from the specific bacterial species, suggesting a potential role of BEVs as modulators of pathogenicity. We reveal key insights into vesicular DNA in microbes and offer a platform for studying BEV-driven gene transfer, with broad implications for ecology and therapeutic strategy.
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