Plasmids mediate the horizontal transmission of genetic information between bacteria,
facilitating their adaptation to multiple environmental conditions. An especially important …

Plasmids are key vectors of horizontal gene transfer and essential genetic engineering tools.
They code for genes involved in many aspects of microbial biology, including detoxication …

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains is a source of public health concern
across the globe. As the discovery of new conventional antibiotics has stalled significantly …

Conjugative plasmids are key agents of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) that accelerate
bacterial adaptation by vectoring ecologically important traits between strains and species …

Plasmids are important drivers of bacterial evolution, but it is challenging to understand how
plasmids persist over the long term because plasmid carriage is costly. Classical models …

Biofilms dominate microbial life, and their importance for human health and the environment
can no longer be dismissed. Nevertheless many of the processes governing this form of …

Horizontal gene transfer is a fundamental process in bacterial evolution that can accelerate
adaptation via the sharing of genes between lineages. Conjugative plasmids are the …

Plasmids contain a backbone of core genes that remains relatively stable for long
evolutionary periods, making sense to speak about plasmid species. The identification and …

Bacterial cell-to-cell interactions are in the core of evolutionary and ecological processes in
soil and other environments. Under most conditions, natural soils are unsaturated where the …

With plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance thriving and threatening to become a serious
public health problem, it is paramount to increase our understanding of the forces that …