Research progress in Tn7 transposons mediating multidrug resistance in bacteria

Abstract:

Transposons are important mobile genetic elements that mediate the spread of antimicrobial resistance. The transposon Tn7 is closely associated with antimicrobial resistance, carrying a transposition module and a class II integron. Tn7 encodes the transposition-associated proteins TnsABCDE for cut-and-paste transposition, and the transposition core machinery TnsABC can bind to triple-stranded DNA or Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats associated)-RNA complexes to achieve transposition. In recent years, researchers have identified several novel Tn7 transposons mediating multidrug resistance, which play a role in mediating the acquisition and spread of bacterial genes conferring resistance to antibiotics, disinfectants, and heavy metals. In this paper, we review the genetic structure, transposition mechanism, prevalence of Tn7 transposons and novel Tn7 transposons mediating multidrug resistance in bacteria, with a view to providing a reference for the in-depth study of Tn7 transposons in bacteria.