Antibiotics are powerful drugs used in the treatment of bacterial infections. The inappropriate
use of these medicines has driven the dissemination of antibiotic resistance (AR) in most …

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen known for its high frequency
and diversity of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. In addition to being a significant …

Bacterial defense against phage predation involves diverse defense systems acting
individually and concurrently, yet their interactions remain poorly understood. We …

Plasmids can mediate horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance, virulence genes, and
other adaptive factors across bacterial populations. Here, we analyze genomic composition …

Since the first two complete bacterial genome sequences were published in 1995, the
science of bacteria has dramatically changed. Using third-generation DNA sequencing, it is …

Evolution is the hallmark of life. Descriptions of the evolution of microorganisms have
provided a wealth of information, but knowledge regarding “what happened” has precluded …

Networks (or graphs) appear as dominant structures in diverse domains, including
sociology, biology, neuroscience and computer science. In most of the aforementioned …

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) drives microbial adaptation but is often under the control of
mobile genetic elements (MGEs) whose interests are not necessarily aligned with those of …

Conjugal plasmids can provide microbes with full complements of new genes and constitute
potent vehicles for horizontal gene transfer. Conjugal plasmid transfer is deemed …

Horizontal genetic transfer (HGT) has played an important role in bacterial evolution at least
since the origins of the bacterial divisions, and HGT still facilitates the origins of bacterial …