Predicting plasmid promiscuity based on genomic signature.

ABSTRACT: Despite the important contribution of self-transmissible plasmids to bacterial evolution, little is understood about the range of hosts in which these plasmids have evolved. Our goal was to infer this so-called evolutionary host range. The nucleotide composition, or genomic signature, of plasmids is often similar to that of the chromosome of their current host, suggesting that plasmids acquire their hosts' signature over time. Therefore, we examined whether the evolutionary host range of plasmids could be inferred by comparing their trinucleotide composition to that of all completely sequenced bacterial chromosomes. The diversity of candidate hosts was determined using taxonomic classification and genetic distance. The method was first tested using plasmids from six incompatibility (Inc) g

SUBMITTER: Suzuki H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2976448 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature