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Review
. 2021 Aug;32(4):361-375.
doi: 10.1007/s10532-021-09950-1. Epub 2021 May 27.

Properties affecting transfer and expression of degradative plasmids for the purpose of bioremediation

Paige M Varner  1 , Claudia K Gunsch  2
Affiliations
Review

Properties affecting transfer and expression of degradative plasmids for the purpose of bioremediation

Paige M Varner et al. Biodegradation. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Plasmids, circular DNA that exist and replicate outside of the host chromosome, have been important in the spread of non-essential genes as well as the rapid evolution of prokaryotes. Recent advances in environmental engineering have aimed to utilize the mobility of plasmids carrying degradative genes to disseminate them into the environment for cost-effective and environmentally friendly remediation of harmful contaminants. Here, we review the knowledge surrounding plasmid transfer and the conditions needed for successful transfer and expression of degradative plasmids. Both abiotic and biotic factors have a great impact on the success of degradative plasmid transfer and expression of the degradative genes of interest. Properties such as ecological growth strategies of bacteria may also contribute to plasmid transfer and may be an important consideration for bioremediation applications. Finally, the methods for detection of conjugation events have greatly improved and the application of these tools can help improve our understanding of conjugation in complex communities. However, it remains clear that more methods for in situ detection of plasmid transfer are needed to help detangle the complexities of conjugation in natural environments to better promote a framework for precision bioremediation.

Keywords: Bioremediation; Horizontal gene transfer; Plasmids.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no have conflict of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representing a genetic bioaugmentation remediation scheme. a Exogenous bacteria harboring degradative plasmids (green) are augmented into the environment where they can transfer plasmids to well-adapted native bacteria for contaminant degradation (blue). b Conjugation of a degradative plasmid occurs via transfer through the pilus of a replicated plasmid
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A generalized map of a mobilizable degradative plasmid zoomed in to reveal the tra operon. Represented within the operon are the origin of transfer (red), promotors (yellow), regulatory genes (blue) and genes responsible for transfer (green)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A spectrum of growth strategies of microorganisms exist with r-strategists (red) on one end and K-strategists (blue) on the other. Properties seen for each extreme are listed
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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