Highlights•Non-conjugative mobile genetic elements are often mobilized by conjugative
elements.•Element carriage of a relaxase gene is not a strict requirement for mobilization.•A …

Bacteriophages (or phages) represent one of the most persistent threats to food
fermentations, particularly large-scale commercial dairy fermentations. Phages infecting …

The horizontal gene transfer facilitated by mobile genetic elements impacts almost all areas
of bacterial evolution, including the accretion and dissemination of antimicrobial-resistance …

The main features that characterize rolling‐circle replication (RCR)(see Fig. 1A) derive from
its singular initiation mechanism, which relies on the sequence‐specific cleavage, at the nick …

Type IV Secretion Systems (T4SSs) are membrane-spanning multiprotein complexes
dedicated to protein secretion or conjugative DNA transport (conjugation systems) in …

Plasmids are widely distributed in different sources of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as self-
replicating extrachromosomal genetic materials, and have received considerable attention …

Horizontal gene transfer is a key process in the evolution of bacteria and also represents a
source of genetic variation in eukaryotes. Among elements participating in gene transfer …

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs), also known as conjugative transposons, are
self-transferable elements that are widely distributed among bacterial phyla and are …

The distinct conjugation machineries encoded by plasmids pNP40 and pUC11B represent
the most prevalent plasmid transfer systems among lactococcal strains. In the current study …

Highlights•Plasmids likely occur in> 10% of strains of C. difficile.•Plasmids can affect traits
such as antimicrobial resistance, but for most there is no demonstrated consequence of …