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SUICIDE PLASMIDS are a "specific DNA fragment is inserted into a plasmid which is then introduced into a recipient strain and placed under conditions where the plasmid cannot replicate. Since the plasmid cannot replicate, selection for some property of the plasmid, such as an antibiotic resistance marker, results in isolates that have integrated the plasmid into the host chromosome via homology between the cloned fragment and the corresponding region of the recipient chromosome." https://lnkd.in/eQqvakJ View in LinkedIn

CRITICAL STEPS. "Not only must plasmids secure their replication, they must also ensure that, once replicated, the plasmids will be split in the daughter cells in such a way that each daughter contains at least one plasmid copy." https://lnkd.in/e8wKCHY View in LinkedIn

ENDLESSLY INVENTIVE. "From suicide plasmids to plasmid addiction, these transferable bits of DNA hold seemingly inexhaustible diversity of strategies for spread and survival, making them an intriguing and fascinating subject of research." https://lnkd.in/exyreqd View in LinkedIn

GENERATIONAL SURVIVAL. "To be maintained across generations of bacterial cells, plasmids must ensure that they replicate at least once during the life cycle of their host. As a result, most plasmids have evolved systems to enable and control their replication." https://lnkd.in/e8wKCHY View in LinkedIn

RESISTANCE GENES. "Plasmids allow the movement of genetic material, including antimicrobial resistance genes, between bacterial species and genera. They frequently mediate resistance to multiple antimicrobials and can result in the acquisition by a pathogen of resistance to all or most clinically relevant antimicrobials." https://lnkd.in/e6F6ZTz View in LinkedIn

BACTERIAL SEX. "Not only do plasmids replicate, copying across to a daughter cell when a bacterium divides, but they can also pass between unrelated bacteria through mechanisms such as cell-to-cell contact or a 'bridging connection' in a process called 'conjugation' – which has been described as the bacterial equivalent of sex." https://lnkd.in/eNHPm6b View in LinkedIn

FITNESS COST. "Conjugative plasmids are extra-chromosomal DNA elements that are capable of horizontal transmission and are found in many natural isolated bacteria. Although plasmids may carry beneficial genes to their bacterial host, they may also cause a fitness cost." https://lnkd.in/eJNVq3D View in LinkedIn

"PROVIROPHAGES AND TRANSPOVIRINS as the diverse mobilome of giant viruses. A distinct class of infectious agents, the virophages that infect giant viruses of the Mimiviridae family, has been recently described...and a member of a previously unknown class of mobile genetic elements, the transpovirons." The list goes on. https://lnkd.in/ejST9YZ View in LinkedIn

MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS (MGEs) "can be roughly grouped into four major classes: transposable elements (TEs), plasmids, viruses, and self-splicing elements such as group I and II introns and inteins...viruses constitute a part of the mobilome." https://lnkd.in/ejST9YZ View in LinkedIn

SMART FLOTSAM AND JETSAM in a sea of protoplasm. "Mobile Genetic Elements, "MGEs such as viruses, plasmids, membrane vesicles, gene transfer agents (GTAs), transposons and transpovirons, which collectively represent the mobilome." Diverse, potent and in motion. https://lnkd.in/eixwewC View in LinkedIn