Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
July 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
New paper out! 🔈🔈📣📣
Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation.
Combining experimental and computational approaches, we unveil how two of the most prevalent bacterial MGE accelerate the evolution of AMR. 🧵👇🏻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation.
Combining experimental and computational approaches, we unveil how two of the most prevalent bacterial MGE accelerate the evolution of AMR. 🧵👇🏻
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health. Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that can rapidly spread across bacterial populations, promoting the dissemination of AMR genes i...
www.biorxiv.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
New paper with @rwheatley8.bsky.social and Cedric Lood
Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy.
Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy.
Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids toward ecological redundancy
Abstract. Plasmids are a ubiquitous feature of bacterial genomes, but the forces driving genes and phenotypes to become associated with plasmids are poorly
academic.oup.com
July 16, 2025 at 11:34 AM
📣 If you work on mobile DNA 🧬, you cannot miss this meeting.
#Microsky #Phagesky #Archaeasky #PlasmidSky
🧪🧬🦠
#Microsky #Phagesky #Archaeasky #PlasmidSky
🧪🧬🦠
3rd UK MGE Workshop – June 16-17, Southampton
Low-cost, science-focused, and full of fresh faces! Tea, biscuits, dinner, and… karaoke!
Call for talks– No abstract needed! Just send your title by the end of April.
Spread the word!
#MGE #UKscience
Low-cost, science-focused, and full of fresh faces! Tea, biscuits, dinner, and… karaoke!
Call for talks– No abstract needed! Just send your title by the end of April.
Spread the word!
#MGE #UKscience
March 30, 2025 at 7:59 PM
📣 If you work on mobile DNA 🧬, you cannot miss this meeting.
#Microsky #Phagesky #Archaeasky #PlasmidSky
🧪🧬🦠
#Microsky #Phagesky #Archaeasky #PlasmidSky
🧪🧬🦠
Why would anyone want to be a scientist?
Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
August 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Cool new plasmid work from Joe Wade's lab at the Wadsworth Center! Lots of conjugative plasmids encode Histone-like nucleoid-structuring protein (H-NS) proteins, and there's increasing evidence they somehow specifically bind to the plasmids that encode them #microsky #plasmidsky
New preprint from our lab, in collaboration with the Santiago/Ruiz-Perez group at UVA. We found a plasmid-encoded DNA-binding protein that preferentially binds its own plasmid! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread:
Thread:
A plasmid-encoded H-NS protein selectively binds its own plasmid
H-NS is an abundant nucleoid-associated protein found in Enterobacterales species. Some conjugative plasmids encode H-NS homologues, which are thought to facilitate plasmid maintenance and reduce the ...
www.biorxiv.org
June 24, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Cool new plasmid work from Joe Wade's lab at the Wadsworth Center! Lots of conjugative plasmids encode Histone-like nucleoid-structuring protein (H-NS) proteins, and there's increasing evidence they somehow specifically bind to the plasmids that encode them #microsky #plasmidsky
This work is finally published! 🥳🧬
Plasmids are associated with very variable fitness costs in their different bacterial hosts. But, what is the contribution of each of the plasmid-genes in these host-specific effects? Study led by
@jorgesastred.bsky.social, @sanmillan.bsky.social and myself! 1/14
Plasmids are associated with very variable fitness costs in their different bacterial hosts. But, what is the contribution of each of the plasmid-genes in these host-specific effects? Study led by
@jorgesastred.bsky.social, @sanmillan.bsky.social and myself! 1/14
Dissecting pOXA-48 fitness effects in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens
Nature Communications - This study investigates the effects of the carbapenem resistance plasmid pOXA-48 in clinical enterobacteria. Using CRISPRi screens, the authors revealed that the...
rdcu.be
August 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
#microsky #plasmidsky #AMR
Antibiotic Use in Oyster Hatcheries Promotes Rapid Spread of a Highly Transferable and Modular Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio url: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Antibiotic Use in Oyster Hatcheries Promotes Rapid Spread of a Highly Transferable and Modular Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio url: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Antibiotic Use in Oyster Hatcheries Promotes Rapid Spread of a Highly Transferable and Modular Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio
Abstract. Plasmids play a key role in the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance genes, particularly in aquaculture where ARG-carrying Vibrio ba
academic.oup.com
August 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
#microsky #plasmidsky #AMR
Antibiotic Use in Oyster Hatcheries Promotes Rapid Spread of a Highly Transferable and Modular Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio url: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Antibiotic Use in Oyster Hatcheries Promotes Rapid Spread of a Highly Transferable and Modular Resistance Plasmid in Vibrio url: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
First of all, we recommend reading a complementary study led by Yannick Baffert and @sbigot.bsky.social, in which they use Tn-seq to study the genetic determinants of pOXA-48 in plasmid maintenance and conjugation. Really cool piece of work that reaches similar conclusions to ours!
2/14
2/14
Genetic determinants of pOXA-48 plasmid maintenance and propagation in Escherichia coli - Nature Communications
pOXA-48 plasmids have emerged as key vectors of carbapenem resistance within Enterobacteriaceae. In this study, the authors use a transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) approach to identify genetic determinan...
www.nature.com
August 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
August 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM