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Vibrio coralliilyticus, a global marine pathogen, is notably responsible for bleaching and tissue necrosis of the coral Pocillopora damicornis. As plasmids and bacteriophages play a notable role in the pathogenicity and proliferation of other members of the Vibrionaceae, a newly identified plasmid of Vibrio coralliilyticus BAA-450 was sequenced and annotated. Analysis of the plasmid revealed a circular 26,631 bp plasmid encoding 6 tRNAs, 8 putative insertion sequence elements, 12 inverted repeats, 3 direct repeats and 30 open reading frames. As BLAST analysis of the plasmid failed to reveal continuous sequence homology to all DNA sequences within the NCBI database, this was identified as a novel plasmid. Analysis of plasmid and chromosomal DNA also suggests that this plasmid was most likely obtained through conjugation. As the GC content of DNA located between several tRNAs are distinct from the remainder of the plasmid, two putative “ecological islands” were identified. RT-qPCR conducted during this investigation revealed temporal expression of many plasmid-encoded genes, indicating that this plasmid may also aid in the growth and survival of V. coralliilyticus.
[Abstract (DOCX)]
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