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Updated: Dec 20, 2025
High-Resolution Comparison of Bacterial Conjugation Frequencies
Published on: January 10, 2019
Effect of donor-recipient relatedness on the plasmid conjugation frequency: a meta-analysis
Jesse B Alderliesten1, Sarah J N Duxbury2, Mark P Zwart3
1Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. j.b.alderliesten@uu.nl.
Background:
Conjugation plays a major role in the transmission of plasmids encoding antibiotic resistance genes in both clinical and general settings. The conjugation efficiency is influenced by many biotic and abiotic factors, one of which is the taxonomic relatedness between donor and recipient bacteria. A comprehensive overview of the influence of donor-recipient relatedness on conjugation is still lacking, but such an overview is important to quantitatively assess the risk of plasmid transfer and the effect of interventions which limit the spread of antibiotic resistance, and to obtain parameter values for conjugation in mathematical models. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis on reported conjugation frequencies from Escherichia coli donors to various recipient species.
Results:
Thirty-two studies reporting 313 conjugation frequencies for liquid broth matings and 270 conjugation frequencies for filter matings were included in our meta-analysis. The reported conjugation frequencies varied over 11 orders of magnitude. Decreasing taxonomic relatedness between donor and recipient bacteria, when adjusted for confounding factors, was associated with a lower conjugation frequency in liquid matings. The mean conjugation frequency for bacteria of the same order, the same class, and other classes was 10, 20, and 789 times lower than the mean conjugation frequency within the same species, respectively. This association between relatedness and conjugation frequency was not found for filter matings. The conjugation frequency was furthermore found to be influenced by temperature in both types of mating experiments, and in addition by plasmid incompatibility group in liquid matings, and by recipient origin and mating time in filter matings.
Conclusions:
In our meta-analysis, taxonomic relatedness is limiting conjugation in liquid matings, but not in filter matings, suggesting that taxonomic relatedness is not a limiting factor for conjugation in environments where bacteria are fixed in space.
Insights
Bacterial taxonomic relatedness significantly impacts plasmid transfer via conjugation in liquid environments, reducing efficiency as relatedness decreases. This finding is crucial for understanding antibiotic resistance spread and modeling interventions.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance gene transmission is a major public health concern.
- Bacterial conjugation efficiency is influenced by factors including donor-recipient taxonomic relatedness.
- Quantitative data on relatedness impact is needed for risk assessment and modeling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a meta-analysis on the influence of donor-recipient taxonomic relatedness on bacterial conjugation frequency.
- To provide quantitative insights into plasmid transfer dynamics.
- To inform strategies for limiting antibiotic resistance spread.
Main Methods:
- Meta-analysis of 32 studies reporting conjugation frequencies.
- Analysis of liquid broth and filter mating experiments.
- Statistical adjustment for confounding factors.
Main Results:
- Conjugation frequencies varied over 11 orders of magnitude.
- Decreasing taxonomic relatedness significantly lowered conjugation frequency in liquid matings.
- No significant association between relatedness and conjugation frequency was observed in filter matings.
- Temperature, plasmid incompatibility, recipient origin, and mating time also influenced conjugation.
Conclusions:
- Taxonomic relatedness limits bacterial conjugation in liquid environments.
- This relatedness limitation is not observed in filter matings, suggesting spatial fixation mitigates the effect.
- Findings highlight the importance of environmental context in plasmid transfer.
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