Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a substantial threat to human health. The widespread
prevalence of AMR is, in part, due to the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes …

Plasmids have a key role in bacterial ecology and evolution because they mobilize
accessory genes by horizontal gene transfer. However, recent studies have revealed that …

Mobile genetic elements are key to the evolution of bacteria and traits that affect host and
ecosystem health. Here, we use a framework of a hierarchical and modular system that …

Plasmid persistence in bacterial populations is strongly influenced by the fitness effects
associated with plasmid carriage. However, plasmid fitness effects in wild-type bacterial …

The mobile resistance gene bla NDM encodes the NDM enzyme which hydrolyses
carbapenems, a class of antibiotics used to treat some of the most severe bacterial …

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have become as emerging contaminant with great
concerns worldwide due to their threats to human health. It is thus urgent to develop …

Naturally occurring plasmids come in different sizes. The smallest are less than a kilobase of
DNA, while the largest can be over three orders of magnitude larger. Historically, research …

Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that carry important accessory genes. Cataloging
plasmids is a fundamental step to elucidate their roles in promoting horizontal gene transfer …

Plasmids alter microbial evolution and lifestyles by mobilizing genes that often confer fitness
in changing environments across clades. Yet our ecological and evolutionary understanding …

Most emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases stem from viruses that naturally
circulate in non-human vertebrates. When these viruses cross over into humans, they can …