ERC Starting Grant · 2018
Erasing the superintegron to understand the role of chromosomal integrons in bacterial evolution
Integrons are genetic platforms that enhance bacterial evolvability through the acquisition and stockpiling of new genes encoded in mobile elements named cassettes. They are found in the chromosomes of environmental bacteria but some have acquired mobility through their association to transposons and conjugative plasmids. These mobile integrons (MI) caused the unexpected rise of multidrug resistance that is now a major threat to modern medicine, and are good proof of the adaptive power of integrons. Class 1 integrons are the most relevant MI and the major experimental model. Yet little is known about the hundreds of sedentary chromosomal integrons (SCI) that have driven bacterial evolution…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.