ArticleNucleic acids research2021
Bacteria have numerous distinctive groups of phage-plasmids with conserved phage and variable plasmid gene repertoires.
Article in Nucleic acids research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers.
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Who cites it
108 citing papers in PubMed.
- Phage-ICE tandems facilitate bacterial adaptation and antimicrobial resistance spread.Science advances · 2026Article
- Revisiting the life cycle of temperate phages.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- The shared evolutionary capacities of plasmids and extrachromosomal DNA.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Shuttling, swapping, and mixing: the rapid modular evolution of antiviral repertoires in temperate phages and their satellites.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Diverse Horizontally Transferred Cellulose Biosynthesis Gene Clusters inMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Nested mobile genetic elements mediating antimicrobial resistance genes mobility within and betweeniScience · 2026Article
- The human skin virome: Ecological dynamics, aberrant profiles, and therapeutic opportunities.Cell host & microbe · 2026Review
- Complex temporal dynamics of phage-bacteria populations in an animal-associated marine system.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Genetic Exchanges Shape the Evolutionary Diversification Among Shigella phages.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Cross-order detection of bacteriophage transduction in microbial communities using RNA barcoding.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Microbial diversity of plant pathogens and insect endosymbionts in Reptalus artemisiae.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Plasmids of the multidrug-resistantMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Dynamics of gut bacteriophage in diversity outbred mice studied over lifespan and during extreme caloric restriction.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Phage-plasmid-like elements are found throughout diverse environments and encode niche-specific functional traits.PloS one · 2026Article
- Characterization of extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Klebsiella recovered from dairy manure in Southern Ontario, Canada.PloS one · 2026Article
- Persistent virulent phages exist across bacterial isolates.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Key directions of fundamental research on bacteriophage Receptor Binding Proteins with applied potential.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Key Challenges in Plant Microbiome Research in the Next Decade.Microorganisms · 2025Review
48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plasmids and temperate phages are key contributors to bacterial evolution. They are usually regarded as very distinct. However, some elements, termed phage-plasmids, are known to be both plasmids and phages, e.g. P1, N15 or SSU5. The number, distribution, relatedness and characteristics of these phage-plasmids are poorly known. Here, we screened for these elements among ca. 2500 phages and 12000 plasmids and identified 780 phage-plasmids across very diverse bacterial phyla. We grouped 92% of them by similarity of gene repertoires to eight defined groups and 18 other broader communities of elements. The existence of these large groups suggests that phage-plasmids are ancient. Their gene repertoires are large, the average element is larger than an average phage or plasmid, and they include slightly more homologs to phages than to plasmids. We analyzed the pangenomes and the genetic organization of each group of phage-plasmids and found the key phage genes to be conserved and co-localized within distinct groups, whereas genes with homologs in plasmids are much more variable and include most accessory genes. Phage-plasmids are a sizeable fraction of the sequenced plasmids (∼7%) and phages (∼5%), and could have key roles in bridging the genetic divide between phages and other mobile genetic elements.
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