Spatial entropy drives the maintenance and dissemination of transferable plasmids

ABSTRACT: The dissemination of transferable plasmids, a major type of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) is one main driver of antibiotic resistance outbreaks. While the plasmid persistence condition in well-mixed environments has been extensively studied, most microbiota in nature are spatially heterogeneous. However, our knowledge regarding how spatial landscape shapes plasmid maintenance and dissemination remains limited. Here we establish a theoretical framework describing plasmid spread over a metacommunity of multiple patches. By analyzing the gene flow dynamics on randomly generated landscapes, we show that plasmid survival and dispersal are dictated by a simple feature of the landscape, spatial entropy. Reducing entropy speeds up plasmid range expansion and allows the global maintenance of many

SUBMITTER: Wenzhi Xue 

PROVIDER: S-SCDT-10_1038-S44320-025-00110-8 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other