Identification and analysis of integrons and cassette arrays in bacterial genomes

摘要: Integrons recombine gene arrays and favor the spread of antibiotic resistance. Their broader roles in bacterial adaptation remain mysterious, partly due to lack computational tools. We made a program - IntegronFinder identify integrons with high accuracy sensitivity. is available as standalone web application. It searches for attC sites using covariance models, integron-integrases HMM profiles, other features (promoters, attI site) pattern matching. searched integrons, lacking sites, clusters neighboring integron-integrase genomes. All these elements are especially frequent genomes intermediate size. They missing some key phyla, such α-Proteobacteria, which might reflect selection against cell lineages that acquire integrons. The similarity between proportional number cassettes integron, particularly low integron-integrases. latter unexpectedly abundant or their remains, have large novel pool homologs databases. represent an evolutionary step acquisition genes within stabilization new genome.