A marine plasmid hitchhiking vast phylogenetic and geographic distances [Environmental Sciences]
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in bacterial evolution and serves as a driving force for bacterial diversity and versatility. HGT events often involve mobile genetic elements like plasmids, which can promote their own dissemination by associating with adaptive traits in the gene pool of the so-called mobilome....
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - Category: Science Authors: Jorn Petersen, John Vollmers, Victoria Ringel, Henner Brinkmann, Claire Ellebrandt–Sperling, Cathrin Sproer, Alexandra M. Howat, J. Colin Murrell, Anne–Kristin Kaster Tags: Biological Sciences Source Type: research