Extra-chromosomal genetic elements are important drivers of bacterial evolution, and their
evolutionary success depends on positive selection for the genes they encode. Examples …

Plasmid acquisition is an important mechanism of rapid adaptation and niche expansion in
prokaryotes. Positive selection for plasmid-coded functions is a major driver of plasmid …

Plasmids are autonomously replicating genetic elements that are ubiquitous in all taxa and
habitats where they constitute an integral part of microbial genomes. The stable inheritance …

Microbial Evolution: Towards Resolving the Plasmid Paradox: Current Biology Skip to Main
Content Advertisement Current Biology This journal offers authors two options (open access or …

The global dissemination of plasmids encoding antibiotic resistance represents an urgent
issue for human health and society. While the fitness costs for host cells associated with …

Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA elements that can be found throughout bacteria, as
well as in other domains of life. Nonetheless, the evolutionary processes underlying the …

Plasmids mediate the horizontal transmission of genetic information between bacteria,
facilitating their adaptation to multiple environmental conditions. An especially important …

The evolutionary pressures that determine the location (chromosomal or plasmid-borne) of
bacterial genes are not fully understood. We investigate these pressures through …

Multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens have become a serious global human health threat,
and conjugative plasmids are important drivers of the rapid spread of resistance to last …

It is difficult to understand plasmid maintenance in the absence of selection and theoretical
models predict the conditions for plasmid persistence to be limited. Plasmid-associated …