Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2025
05:18
High-Resolution Comparison of Bacterial Conjugation Frequencies
Published on: January 10, 2019
10.7K
Plasmid conjugation drives within-patient plasmid diversity
Fan Grayson1, Leo Loman1, Toby Nonnenmacher2
1Advanced Analytics, Analysis & Intelligence Assessment, Chief Data Officer Group, UK Health Security Agency, London, UK.
Microbial Genomics
|March 20, 2025
Summary
Plasmids carrying antimicrobial resistance genes spread easily between bacteria within patients via conjugation. This study found identical OXA-48 plasmids were shared among different bacterial hosts in most patients, indicating conjugation is the primary driver of plasmid diversity.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genetics
- Public Health
Background:
- Plasmids are key vectors for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene spread.
- Conjugation facilitates AMR gene transfer between bacteria, complicating outbreak investigations.
- The role of conjugation in within-patient plasmid diversity remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of plasmid conjugation on within-patient plasmid diversity.
- To analyze the dissemination patterns of OXA-48 plasmids within carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales isolates from English patients.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a dataset of 256 bacterial sequences from 115 patients over 30 months.
- Employed a hybrid de novo-on-reference assembly pipeline to reconstruct OXA-48 plasmids.
- Analyzed plasmid sequences for genetic similarity and diversity.
Main Results:
- Successfully reconstructed OXA-48 plasmids from 232 of 256 sequences.
- Identical OXA-48 plasmids were found in multiple bacterial hosts within the same patient for 83% of patients.
- Separate acquisition of distinct OXA-48 plasmid variants was rare.
Conclusions:
- Conjugation is the predominant mechanism for OXA-48 plasmid sharing among different bacterial hosts within a patient.
- Within-patient plasmid diversity is largely driven by the spread of identical plasmids via conjugation, rather than multiple independent acquisitions.
Related Concept Videos
00:46Genomic DNA in Prokaryotes
43.3K
The genome of most prokaryotic organisms consists of double-stranded DNA organized into one circular chromosome in a region of cytoplasm called the nucleoid. The chromosome is tightly wound, or supercoiled, for efficient storage. Prokaryotes also contain other circular pieces of DNA called plasmids. These plasmids are smaller than the chromosome and often carry genes that confer adaptive functions, such as antibiotic resistance.
Genomic Diversity in Bacteria
Although bacterial genomes are much...
Genomic Diversity in Bacteria
Although bacterial genomes are much...
43.3K
02:53Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
5.9K
Because the DNA segments are cut and reorganized in a direction-specific manner, site-specific recombination has emerged as an efficient genetic engineering technique. Flippase and Cyclization recombinases or Flp and Cre, respectively, are two members of the tyrosine recombinase family derived from bacteriophages, that are used to mediate site-specific DNA insertions, deletions, and targeted expression of proteins in mammalian cell lines.
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
5.9K
00:57Antibiotic Selection
52.1K
Overview
52.1K
00:57Viral Recombination
23.2K
Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.
23.2K
03:21Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
7.8K
While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.
7.8K
02:18Types of Genetic Transfer Between Organisms
26.9K
Genetic transfer occurs when genetic information is passed from one organism to another. It occurs via two mechanisms: vertical gene transfer and horizontal gene transfer. Vertical gene transfer occurs when genetic information is transferred from one generation to the next, which happens much more frequently than horizontal gene transfer. Both sexual and asexual reproduction are forms of vertical gene transfer, where one or more organisms pass some or all of their genome onto their progeny.
26.9K