Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wein T
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6565834 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Wein Tanita T Hülter Nils F NF Mizrahi Itzhak I Dagan Tal T
Nature communications 20190613 1
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 evolution, while plasmids that do not confer a selective advantage are considered costly and expected to go extinct. Yet, plasmids are ubiquitous in nature, and their persistence remains an evolutionary paradox. Here, we demonstrate that non-mobile plasmids persist over evolutionary timescales without selection for the p ...[more]