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bioRxiv · 10.1101/434282

Plasmid transfer is biased towards close kin in bacteria from natural populations.

Dimitriu, T.·Marchant, L.·Buckling, A.·Raymond, B.
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Abstract

Plasmids play a key role in microbial ecology and evolution, yet the determinants of plasmid transfer rates are poorly understood. Here we investigate the importance of genetic similarity between naturally co-occurring Escherichia coli isolates in the transfer of two plasmids (narrow-host-range R1 and broad-host-range RP4). We uncovered extensive variability, spanning over five orders of magnitude, in the ability of isolates to donate and receive plasmids. Overall, transfer was strongly biased towards clone-mates, but not correlated to genetic distance between donors and recipients. Transfer was limited by the presence of a functional restriction-modification system in recipients, thus bias towards kin might be explained by sharing of identical restriction systems. Such conjugation within lineages sets the stage for longer-term pair-wise coevolutionary interactions between plasmids and bacterial hosts.

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Dimitriu, T., Marchant, L., Buckling, A., Raymond, B.. 2018-10-03. Plasmid transfer is biased towards close kin in bacteria from natural populations.. https://doi.org/10.1101/434282

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