ArticleMolecular systems biology2025
Spatial entropy drives the maintenance and dissemination of transferable plasmids.
Article in Molecular systems biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Spatial constraints determine the spread of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance between bacterial colonies.mSystems · 2026Article
- Invasive plasmids as ecosystem engineers-from mechanism to application.Essays in biochemistry · 2026Review
- Biofilm-forming traits enrich the plasmid diversity and functional potential in particle-attached bacteria in coastal ecosystems.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Isolation, identification, and plant growth-promoting mechanisms of strain BN5, with a focus on exogenously Trp-independent IAA biosynthesis, and its impact on cucumber cultivation.Current research in microbial sciences · 2026Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
The dissemination of transferable plasmids, a major type of mobile genetic elements (MGEs), is one main driver of antibiotic resistance outbreaks. While the plasmid persistence condition in well-mixed environments has been extensively studied, most microbiota in nature are spatially heterogeneous. However, our knowledge regarding how spatial landscape shapes plasmid maintenance and dissemination remains limited. Here we establish a theoretical framework describing plasmid spread over a metacommunity of multiple patches. By analyzing the gene flow dynamics on randomly generated landscapes, we show that plasmid survival and dispersal are dictated by a simple feature of the landscape, spatial entropy. Reducing entropy speeds up plasmid range expansion and allows the global maintenance of many plasmids that are predicted to be lost by classic theories. The entropy's effects are experimentally validated in E. coli metacommunities transferring a conjugative plasmid. We further examine a vast collection of prokaryotic genomes and show that prokaryotes from low-entropy environments indeed carry more abundant MGEs and antibiotic resistance genes. Our work provides critical insights into the management and control of antimicrobial resistance.
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