{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T09:48:24Z","timestamp":1782726504198,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779235200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Pheromone-regulated horizontal transfer serves as the core mechanism for horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance genes, playing a pivotal role in driving the spread of resistance. Given the strict species-specific constraints of this regulatory system, it is imperative to determine whether novel regulatory signal peptides and cross-genus receptors responsive to these signals exist, thereby elucidating its potential for disseminating resistance across broader microbial communities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This study isolated and screened a Gram-positive coccus,\n                      <jats:italic>Aerococcus urinaeequi<\/jats:italic>\n                      Ae1, from the gut microbiota, and confirmed that Ae1 can undergo intergeneric plasmid transfer with\n                      <jats:italic>Enterococcus faecalis<\/jats:italic>\n                      (\n                      <jats:italic>E. faecalis<\/jats:italic>\n                      ), challenging the conventional understanding that the pCF10 plasmid spreads only within the same species.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results and discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Results showed an intergeneric plasmid transfer frequency of (3.41 \u00b1 0.26) \u00d7 10\n                      <jats:sup>\u20133<\/jats:sup>\n                      in Ae1, which increased to (7.97 \u00b1 1.77) \u00d7 10\n                      <jats:sup>\u20133<\/jats:sup>\n                      upon exogenous addition of the cCF10 signal peptide, indicating cCF10\u2019s regulatory role in this process. Furthermore, the Ae1 signal peptide SPI-WT appeared to functionally resemble the cCF10 mechanism, possibly by acting on the\n                      <jats:italic>prgZ\/prgX<\/jats:italic>\n                      pathway to promote pCF10 intergeneric transfer. This study suggests that\n                      <jats:italic>Aerococcus urinaeequi<\/jats:italic>\n                      can acquire the pCF10 plasmid via intergeneric transfer and provides preliminary evidence that its endogenous signal peptide SPI-WT may play a regulatory role via the\n                      <jats:italic>prgZ\/prgX<\/jats:italic>\n                      pathway. However, direct proof of natural secretion, physical binding, intracellular uptake, and relief of transcriptional repression is lacking; these remain important questions for future investigation. Nonetheless, our findings provide new insights into the dissemination pathways of intestinal antibiotic resistance genes.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1817926","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T05:48:34Z","timestamp":1779256114000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A newly discovered Aerococcus urinaeequi mediates transfer of the pCF10 plasmid via SPI-WT regulation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Man","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaobo","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rumeng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"College of Oceanography and Ecological Science, Shanghai Ocean University","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingxue","family":"Qian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Xi\u2019an Polytechnic University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ruolin","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"College of Oceanography and Ecological Science, Shanghai Ocean University","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qing","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiqiang","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingfeng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"Tianjin Key Laboratory of Extracorporeal Life Support for Critical Diseases, Department of Nutrition, Central Hospital, Artificial Cell Engineering Technology Research Center, Tianjin University\/Tianjin Third Central Hospital","place":["Tianjin, China"]},{"name":"Tianjin Institute of Geriatrics, Tianjin Third Central Hospital Branch, National Medical Quality Control Center of Clinical Nutrition","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhigang","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Military Medical Sciences Academy, Academy of Military Sciences","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"48775","DOI":"10.1021\/acsomega.3c05743","article-title":"Moist heat synthesis of magnetic EGCG-capped\u03b1-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles and their in vitro and in silico interactions with pristine HSA- and NDM-1-producing bacteria.","volume":"8","author":"Ali","year":"2023","journal-title":"ACS Omega"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1155","DOI":"10.1128\/jb.184.4.1155-1162.2002","article-title":"ccfA, the genetic determinant for the cCF10 peptide pheromone in Enterococcus faecalis OG1RF.","volume":"184","author":"Antiporta","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. 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