Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40768349›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Fluid flow generates bacterial conjugation hot spots by increasing the rate of shear-driven cell-cell encounters.

Matti Zbinden, Jana S Huisman, Natasha Blitvic, Roman Stocker, Jonasz Słomka

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Hydrodynamic dispersion drives viral-cellular contact for gene delivery in porous media.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Fluid flow generates bacterial conjugation hot spots by increasing the rate of shear-driven cell-cell encounters.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Matti ZbindenInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland.ORCID 0009-0003-0084-0296
Jana S HuismanDepartment of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.ORCID 0000-0002-1782-8109
Natasha BlitvicSchool of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom.
Roman StockerInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-3199-0508
Jonasz SłomkaInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-7097-5810

Funding

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF) GBMF9197Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) LT0045/2023-LNational Science Foundation (NSF) PHY-2309135Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF) 205321_207488Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF) 51NF40_180575Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF) 51NF40_225148Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF) CRSII5-186422Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (SNF) PZ00P2_202188Simons Foundation (SF) 542395FY22Simons Foundation (SF) Pivot Fellowship
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Conjugation accelerates bacterial evolution by enabling bacteria to acquire genes horizontally from their neighbors. Plasmid donors must physically encounter and connect with recipients to allow plasmid transfer, and different environments are characterized by vastly different encounter rates between cells, based on mechanisms ranging from simple diffusion to fluid flow. However, how the environment affects the conjugation rate by setting the encounter rate has been largely neglected, mostly because existing experimental setups do not allow for direct control over cell encounters. Here, we describe the results of conjugation experiments in

Indexed as

Conjugation, GeneticEscherichia coliPlasmidsbacterial conjugationcell–cell encountershorizontal gene transfer

Identifiers

PMID40768349
PMCPMC12358848

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.