Bowring, JanineNeamah, Maan M.Donderis, JorgeMir Sanchis, IgnacioAlite, ChristianCiges Tomás, J. RafaelMehmedov, IltyarMarina, AlbertoMaiques Fernández, ElisaPenadés Casanova, José RafaelUCH. Departamento de Ciencias BiomédicasProducción Científica UCH 20172019-09-262019-09-262017-08-01Bowring, J., Neamah, MM., Donderis, J., Mir-Sanchis, I., Alite, C., Ciges-Tomas, JR. et al. (2017). Pirating conserved phage mechanisms promotes promiscuous staphylococcal pathogenicity island transfer. eLife, vol. 6, art. e26487 (aug. 2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26487.0012050-084X (Electrónico)http://hdl.handle.net/10637/10613Este artículo se encuentra disponible en la página web de la revista en la siguiente URL: https://elifesciences.org/articles/26487Targeting conserved and essential processes is a successful strategy to combat enemies. Remarkably, the clinically important Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) use this tactic to spread in nature. SaPIs reside passively in the host chromosome, under the control of the SaPI-encoded master repressor, Stl. It has been assumed that SaPI de-repression is effected by specific phage proteins that bind to Stl, initiating the SaPI cycle. Different SaPIs encode different Stl repressors, so each targets a specific phage protein for its de-repression. Broadening this narrow vision, we report here that SaPIs ensure their promiscuous transfer by targeting conserved phage mechanisms. This is accomplished because the SaPI Stl repressors have acquired different domains to interact with unrelated proteins, encoded by different phages, but in all cases performing the same conserved function. This elegant strategy allows intra- and inter-generic SaPI transfer, highlighting these elements as one of nature’s most fascinating subcellular parasites.application/pdfenopen accessBacteriología médica.Medical bacteriology.Enfermedades infecciosas.Staphylococcus.Estafilococos.Microbiología médica.Medical microbiology.Communicable diseases.Artículohttps://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26487.001https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es