Towards a taxonomy of conjugative plasmids
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Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Detection of Horizontal Gene Transfer Mediated by Natural Conjugative Plasmids in E. coli
Published on: March 24, 2023
Raul Fernandez-Lopez1, Santiago Redondo1, M Pilar Garcillan-Barcia1
1Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria (IBBTEC), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain.
Abstract:
Conjugative plasmids are the keystone of horizontal gene transfer. Metagenomic research and clinical understanding of plasmid transmission beg for a taxonomical approach to conjugative plasmid classification. Up to now, a meaningful classification was difficult to achieve for lack of appropriate analytical tools. The advent of the genomic era revolutionized the landscape, offering a plethora of plasmid sequences as well as bioinformatic analytical tools. Given the need and the opportunity, in view of the available evidence, a taxonomy of conjugative plasmids is proposed in the hope that it will leverage plasmid studies.
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