ArticleMolecular systems biology2021
Conjugation dynamics depend on both the plasmid acquisition cost and the fitness cost.
Article in Molecular systems biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structural basis for TrbM-enhanced conjugation and interbacterial killing in the RP4 plasmid.iScience · 2026Article
- Plasmid-encoded host reprogramming promotes plasmid dissemination.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Investigating the mobility and host range of mobile genetic elements harbouring antimicrobial resistance genes in enterococci.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Molecular kinetics dictate population dynamics in CRISPR-based plasmid defense.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- CRISPR-Cas is beneficial in plasmid competition, but limited by competitor toxin-antitoxin activity when horizontally transferred.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Selective shifts in mobile antibiotic resistance genes under carbamazepine exposure in wastewater microbiomes.ISME communications · 2026Article
- A foundation model for microbial growth dynamics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Plasmid streamlining drives the extinction of antibiotic resistance plasmids under selection for horizontal transmission.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Genomic evolution and stability of the mcr-1-harboring IncI2 plasmid in the presence and absence of colistin.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Dissecting pOXA-48 fitness effects in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Assessing the Antibiotic Resistance in Food Lactic Acid Bacteria: Risks in the Era of Widespread Probiotic Use.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Conjugative delivery of toxin genesJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- The extended mobility of plasmids.Nucleic acids research · 2025Review
- Human-wildlife ecological interactions shape Escherichia coli population and resistome in two sloth species from Costa Rica.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Article
- The role of bacterial metabolism in antimicrobial resistance.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Biofilm architecture determines the dissemination of conjugative plasmids.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The metabolic burden associated with plasmid acquisition: An assessment of the unrecognized benefits to host cells.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Article
- Exploring auxotrophy and engineering vitamin BApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plasmid conjugation is a major mechanism responsible for the spread of antibiotic resistance. Plasmid fitness costs are known to impact long-term growth dynamics of microbial populations by providing plasmid-carrying cells a relative (dis)advantage compared to plasmid-free counterparts. Separately, plasmid acquisition introduces an immediate, but transient, metabolic perturbation. However, the impact of these short-term effects on subsequent growth dynamics has not previously been established. Here, we observed that de novo transconjugants grew significantly slower and/or with overall prolonged lag times, compared to lineages that had been replicating for several generations, indicating the presence of a plasmid acquisition cost. These effects were general to diverse incompatibility groups, well-characterized and clinically captured plasmids, Gram-negative recipient strains and species, and experimental conditions. Modeling revealed that both fitness and acquisition costs modulate overall conjugation dynamics, validated with previously published data. These results suggest that the hours immediately following conjugation may play a critical role in both short- and long-term plasmid prevalence. This time frame is particularly relevant to microbiomes with high plasmid/strain diversity considered to be hot spots for conjugation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.