Origins of transfer establish networks of functional dependencies for plasmid transfer by conjugation.

ABSTRACT: Plasmids can be transferred between cells by conjugation, thereby driving bacterial evolution by horizontal gene transfer. Yet, we ignore the molecular mechanisms of transfer for many plasmids because they lack all protein-coding genes required for conjugation. We solved this conundrum by identifying hundreds of plasmids and chromosomes with conjugative origins of transfer in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. These plasmids (pOriT) hijack the relaxases of conjugative or mobilizable elements, but not both. The functional dependencies between pOriT and other plasmids explain their co-occurrence: pOriT are abundant in cells with many plasmids, whereas conjugative plasmids are the most common in the others. We systematically characterized plasmid mobility in relation to conjugation a

SUBMITTER: Ares-Arroyo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10123127 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature