REVIEW article
Front. Syst. Biol.
Sec. Integrative Systems Microbiology
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsysb.2025.1557413
This article is part of the Research TopicDecoding the Antibiotic Resistance Puzzle: Unleashing the Power of Computational Analysis and Dynamic Tracking in Microbial (Meta)Genomics and PhenomicsView all articles
Unraveling the role of Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) in Antibiotic Resistance transmission and defending strategies in Bacteria
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
- 2School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Sirhind, Punjab, India, Sirhind, India
- 3Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
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The irrational antibiotic use contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, which is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections globally. Molecular research has shown that multi-resistance prevalence frequently develops from the uptake of pre-existing resistance genes, which are subsequently intensified under selective pressures. Resistance genes spread and become acquired through mobile genetic elements, essential for facilitating horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are identified as carriers of genetic material and significant players in evolutionary processes. These include insertion sequences, transposons, integrative and conjugative elements (ICE), plasmids, and genomic islands, all of which can transfer between and within DNA molecules. With an emphasis on pathogenic bacteria, this review highlights the salient features of the MGEs that contribute to the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. MGEs carry non-essential genes, including AMR and virulence genes, which can enhance the adaptability and fitness of their bacterial hosts. Besides, these elements employ evolutionary strategies to facilitate their replication and dissemination, enabling survival without positive selection for the harboring of beneficial genes.
Keywords: antibiotic resistance, Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), horizontal gene transfer (HGT), bioinformatics, Prokaryotic defence
Received: 08 Jan 2025; Accepted: 02 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kumavath, Gupta, Tatta, Mohan, Salim and Busi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ranjith Kumavath, Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, 605 014, Puducherry, India
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