Bacterial conjugation, a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer, is the major means by which
antibiotic resistance spreads among bacteria (1, 2). Conjugative plasmids are transferred …

Relaxases are proteins responsible for the transfer of plasmid and chromosomal DNA from
one bacterium to another during conjugation. They covalently react with a specific …

Conjugative transfer is an important driver in evolution, enabling bacteria to acquire new
traits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). During conjugative transfer, DNA translocation across the cell envelopes …

Type IV secretion system (T4SS) substrates are recruited through a translocation signal that
is poorly defined for conjugative relaxases. The relaxase TrwC of plasmid R388 is …

Conjugation, the process by which plasmid DNA is transferred from one bacterium to
another, is mediated by type IV secretion systems (T4SSs). T4SSs are versatile systems that …

All plasmids that spread by conjugative transfer encode a relaxase. That includes plasmids
that encode the type IV secretion machinery necessary to mediate cell to cell transfer, as …

Conjugation is the process by which bacteria exchange genetic materials in a unidirectional
manner from a donor cell to a recipient cell. The discovery of conjugation signalled the dawn …

In preparation for transfer conjugative type IV secretion systems (T4SS) produce a
nucleoprotein adduct containing a relaxase enzyme covalently linked to the 5′ end of …

Bacterial conjugation is a promiscuous DNA transport mechanism. Conjugative plasmids
transfer themselves between most bacteria, thus being one of the main causal agents of the …

Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes carried by conjugative plasmids poses a
serious health problem. As conjugative relaxases are transported to recipient cells during …