Abstract
Arcobacter species are recovered from a wide variety of sources, including animals, food, and both fresh and marine waters. Several Arcobacter species have also been recovered from human clinical samples and are thus associated tentatively with food- and water-borne human illnesses. Genome sequencing of the poultry isolate Arcobacter cibarius H743 and the Arcobacter acticola, Arcobacter pacificus, and Arcobacter porcinus type strains identified a large number and variety of insertion sequences. This study presents an analysis of these A. acticola, A. cibarius, A. pacificus, and A. porcinus IS elements. The four genomes sequenced here contain 276 complete and degenerate IS elements, representing 13 of the current 29 prokaryotic IS element families. Expansion of the analysis to include 15 other previously sequenced Arcobacter spp. added 73 complete and degenerate IS elements. Several of these IS elements were identified in two or more Arcobacter species, suggesting movement by horizontal gene transfer between the arcobacters. These IS elements are putatively associated with intragenomic deletions and inversions, and tentative movement of antimicrobial resistance genes. The A. cibarius strain H743 megaplasmid contains multiple IS elements common to the chromosome and, unusually, a complete ribosomal RNA locus, indicating that larger scale genomic rearrangements, potentially resulting from IS element-mediated megaplasmid cointegration and resolution may be occurring within A. cibarius and possibly other arcobacters. The presence of such a large and varied suite of mobile elements could have profound effects on Arcobacter biology and evolution.