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Giants within: a new class of microbial mobile elements.

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Τίτλος: Giants within: a new class of microbial mobile elements.
Συγγραφείς: Kiguchi Y; Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan; Department of Medicine (Hematology), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: yuya.kiguchi@edu.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp., Suzuki Y; Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan. Electronic address: ysuzuki@edu.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Πηγή: Trends in genetics : TIG [Trends Genet] 2026 Sep; Vol. 42 (9), pp. 808-819. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 May 30.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article; Review
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: Elsevier Trends Journals Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8507085 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 0168-9525 (Print) Linking ISSN: 01689525 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Trends Genet Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: Cambridge : Elsevier Trends Journals
Original Publication: [Amsterdam, The Netherlands : Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., c1985-
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Interspersed Repetitive Sequences*/genetics , Bacteria*/genetics, Plasmids/genetics ; Extrachromosomal DNA ; Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Περίληψη: Prokaryotes harbor a diverse spectrum of extrachromosomal elements (ECEs), which are intracellular replicons maintained independently of the primary chromosome. Historically, the ECE research field has focused on relatively small ECEs, such as plasmids. However, the advent of long-read sequencing has revealed that prokaryotes also harbor various types of giant ECEs, spanning hundreds of kilobases to over 1 Mb, that were not hitherto recognized. In this review, we describe how long-read sequencing has enabled the discovery of giant ECEs and compare the genetic architectures and functional repertoires of several recently characterized examples. The functions of most genes in these ECEs remain uncharacterized, and current computational tools frequently misclassify or overlook them. We further discuss how the discovery of these giant ECEs challenges existing classification frameworks that attempt to distinguish megaplasmids, chromids, and chromosomes. Together, these findings highlight giant ECEs as a largely unexplored layer of microbial genetics, whose characterization will have broad implications for our understanding of microbial adaptation and horizontal gene transfer.
(Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests There are no conflicts of interest.
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: extrachromosomal element; long reads; megaplasmid; metagenomics; microbiome; mobile genetic element
Substance Nomenclature: 0 (Extrachromosomal DNA)
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20260529 Date Completed: 20260907 Latest Revision: 20260907
Update Code: 20260908
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2026.05.004
PMID: 42215376
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
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  Data: Prokaryotes harbor a diverse spectrum of extrachromosomal elements (ECEs), which are intracellular replicons maintained independently of the primary chromosome. Historically, the ECE research field has focused on relatively small ECEs, such as plasmids. However, the advent of long-read sequencing has revealed that prokaryotes also harbor various types of giant ECEs, spanning hundreds of kilobases to over 1 Mb, that were not hitherto recognized. In this review, we describe how long-read sequencing has enabled the discovery of giant ECEs and compare the genetic architectures and functional repertoires of several recently characterized examples. The functions of most genes in these ECEs remain uncharacterized, and current computational tools frequently misclassify or overlook them. We further discuss how the discovery of these giant ECEs challenges existing classification frameworks that attempt to distinguish megaplasmids, chromids, and chromosomes. Together, these findings highlight giant ECEs as a largely unexplored layer of microbial genetics, whose characterization will have broad implications for our understanding of microbial adaptation and horizontal gene transfer.<br /> (Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
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  Data: Declaration of interests There are no conflicts of interest.
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