We examined the feasibility of gene transfer to rabbit placenta using adenoviruses, plasmid/liposomes and plasmid/polyethyleneimine (PEI) complexes. Pregnant New Zealand White rabbits (n = 17) were ...

Genes responsible for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can spread from microbe to microbe through circular genetic material called plasmids, and this lateral transfer occurs in the gut. This week in ...

We studied the colonization-factor antigen I (CFA/I) fimbriae- and heat-stable enterotoxin (ST)-coding plasmid of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (strain H10407, serotype O78:H11) pathogenic for ...

Depiction of plasmid transfer between a donor cell and a recipient cell. First, proteins such as relaxase are expressed. The proteins then bind to the origin of transfer region (oriT) of the DNA in ...

In lab experiments, bacteria transferred plasmids with AMR genes in the presence of zinc at reduced or nonexistent rates. Stopping the transfer without killing microbes may help reduce AMR without ...

Some plasmids have been found to carry genes that kill their bacterial hosts after loss of the plasmid by vegetative segregation. This behavior appears at first to be purely spiteful because it does ...