“Join or Die”: DNA Plasmids Kill Bacteria that Resist Them  - Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)

Plasmids are small DNA molecules that can move between bacterial cells. When a plasmid carries an antibiotic resistance gene, that gene can spread quickly through a bacterial population. We study what...

Abstract. Plasmids are major drivers of bacterial horizontal gene transfer, including transfer of antimicrobial resistance. Plasmid dissemination extends b

Microbes and the mobile genetic elements that move between them, viruses and plasmids, shape how a microbiome behaves, and CRISPR-Cas systems are an…

Plasmids are major drivers of evolutionary innovation and ecological adaptation in prokaryotes. Plasmids that confer beneficial functions on their host may become domesticated through long-term coevol...

ALT: Noma Dumezweni

Here, the authors report the identification and characterization of large, up to 1.58 million base-pair-long plasmids in gut microbiomes worldwide, showing that while most genes remain uncharacterized...

Many bacteria carry conjugative plasmids, mobile DNA molecules that spread traits such as antibiotic resistance. Some conjugative plasmids encode proteins related to the bacterial DNA-binding protein H-NS. We show that an H-NS-like protein from the IncX4 plasmid pCROD2 binds almost exclusively to the plasmid from which it originates, while largely ignoring the host chromosome. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism that allows plasmids to regulate their own genes with high specificity while minimizing interference with host gene expression.