To facilitate bacterial transformation, DNA plasmids are usually designed to include a bacterial origin of replication (ORI) and an antibiotic resistance gene, to be used as a selection marker.

In this article, we discuss transformation, bacterial transformation in particular, and how scientists can utilize it to manipulate bacteria for a plethora of purposes.

New research from the University of Sheffield has found that bacterial plasmids readily pick up new genes and spread them to new species – something which is an increasing concern for transfer ...

Bacterial cells often possess molecules of closed, circular DNA, otherwise known as ‘plasmids’. They can also be present at much lower frequencies in certain eukaryotic cell types, such as ...

Natural bacterial isolates often contain small, cryptic plasmids that comprise only replication genes and a few genes of unknown function.

“Plasmids are capable of moving between bacteria and are usually thought of as being important 'vehicles' that transfer resistance genes between bacteria.

Studying self-replicating genetic units, called plasmids, found in one of the world's widest-ranging pathogenic soil bacteria -- the crown-gall-disease-causing microorganism Agrobacterium ...

The system involves two proteins that team up to disable plasmids, small DNA molecules that exchange genetic information among different bacterial strains. While plasmids provide evolutionary ...

Hundreds of different plasmids were found, and similar ones showed up in different samples regardless of the variety of bacteria species present.

Samuel recreated this phenomenon in a lab to prove that it occurs during actual plasmid transfer between bacteria. “We used plasmids that confer antibiotic resistance and introduced them into bacteria ...

So, the plasmids force their hosts to lay down their arms, allowing them to then pass copies of themselves into the neighboring bacteria.