TraitMech

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genomic island

traitmech:000093 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A genomics trait describing possession of a genomic island — a horizontally acquired chromosomal region (e.g. a pathogenicity, symbiosis, or metabolic island) that often retains mobility signatures such as flanking repeats and atypical nucleotide composition.

Genomic islands acquired by HGT carry accessory functions

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking horizontal gene transfer to acquisition of genomic islands that confer accessory phenotypes (pathogenicity, symbiosis, metabolism).

Genomic islands acquired by HGT carry accessory functions Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for genomic island.

Edge evidence

  • horizontal gene transfer causes genomic island biolink:causes

    Genomic islands are integrated into host chromosomes via HGT.

    • DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00136.x Juhas et al. review genomic islands as tools of bacterial HGT.
  • genomic island contributes to accessory function RO:0002326

    Genomic islands deliver pathogenicity, symbiosis, or metabolic modules to the host.

    • DOI:10.1038/nrmicro884 Dobrindt et al. review genomic islands carrying virulence and metabolic functions in pathogens and environmental microbes.
  • genomic island carries integrase/recombinase/transposase mobility module

    Genomic islands often encode a dedicated mobility module (DDE transposase or tyrosine/serine recombinase).

    • DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad644 Intracellular mobility is often mediated by dedicated DDE transposases or integrases belonging to serine or tyrosine recombinases.
  • integrative conjugative element (ICE) disseminates by conjugation

    ICE-type genomic islands spread by conjugation.

    • DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad644 ICEs disseminate by conjugation.
  • integrative conjugative element (ICE) requires type IV secretion system (T4SS)

    ICE conjugative transfer requires a type IV secretion system.

    • DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad644 ICEs disseminate by conjugation using a type IV secretion system (T4SS).
  • integrative mobilizable element (IME) uses conjugation

    IME-type islands lack their own apparatus and spread via the conjugative apparatus of a helper ICE or conjugative plasmid.

    • DOI:10.1093/nar/gkad644 IMEs spread via the conjugative apparatus encoded by a helper ICE or conjugative plasmid.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1038/nrmicro884

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • pathogenicity island NARROW_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1038/nrmicro884

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000188 [-0.956, -1.962, -3.148, +1.274, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate GENOMICS trait (genomic island); sub-variant of mobile genetic element.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (HGT-acquired genomic island accessory function) with RO/biolink predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (GO:0009292×1).

  4. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 4 evidence-backed generic edges (5 new nodes) from the deep-research report.