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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Phage Phenomics: Physiological Approaches to Characterize Novel Viral Proteins
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Phage Phenomics: Physiological Approaches to Characterize Novel Viral Proteins

Published on: June 11, 2015

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Phage-plasmids: missed links between mobile genetic elements

Wendy Figueroa1, Daniel Cazares2, Adrian Cazares3

  • 1Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK.

Trends in Microbiology
|May 16, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Mobile genetic elements like phages and plasmids can share genes. Hybrid phage-plasmids facilitate gene flow between these elements, enabling bacterial evolution.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Phages and plasmids are key mobile genetic elements (MGEs) driving bacterial gene dissemination.
  • Gene exchange between phages and plasmids is typically limited.
  • Understanding MGE evolution is crucial for microbial genetics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate recent gene-sharing events between phages and plasmids.
  • To describe the role of hybrid elements in promoting gene flow.
  • To understand the evolutionary pathways of new MGE types.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of recent gene-sharing events.
  • Investigation of hybrid element formation and function.
  • Comparative genomics of mobile genetic elements.

Main Results:

  • Hybrid elements, termed phage-plasmids (P-Ps), were identified.
  • Phage-plasmids facilitate significant gene flow between phage and plasmid MGEs.
  • These hybrid elements contribute to the evolution of novel MGEs.

Conclusions:

  • Phage-plasmids represent a novel mechanism for inter-MGE gene transfer.
  • Hybrid elements expand the scope of genetic exchange in bacteria.
  • The evolution of phage-plasmids impacts bacterial adaptation and diversity.
Keywords:
evolutionhorizontal gene transfermobile genetic elementsphagesplasmids

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