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Plasmids Increase the Competitive Ability of Plasmid-Bearing Cells Even When Transconjugants Are Poor Donors, as Shown by Computer Simulations

dc.contributor.authorRebelo, João S.
dc.contributor.authorDomingues, Célia P. F.
dc.contributor.authorNogueira, Teresa
dc.contributor.authorDionisio, Francisco
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-18T18:19:40Z
dc.date.available2023-06-18T18:19:40Z
dc.date.issued2023-05-08
dc.description.abstractBacterial cells often suffer a fitness cost after conjugative plasmids’ entry because these cells replicate slower than plasmid-free cells. Compensatory mutations may appear after tens of or a few hundred generations, reducing or eliminating this cost. A previous work based on a mathematical model and computer simulations has shown that plasmid-bearing cells already adapted to the plasmid may gain a fitness advantage when plasmids transfer into neighboring plasmid-free cells because these cells are still unadapted to the plasmid. These slow-growing transconjugants use fewer resources, which can benefit donor cells. However, opportunities for compensatory mutations in transconjugants increase if these cells become numerous (through replication or conjugation). Moreover, transconjugants also gain an advantage when transferring the plasmid, but the original donors may be too distant from conjugation events to gain an advantage. To understand which consequence prevails, we performed further computer simulations allowing versus banning transfer from transconjugants. The advantage to donors is higher if transconjugants do not transfer plasmids, mainly when donors are rare and when the plasmid transfer rate (from donors) is high. These results show that conjugative plasmids are efficient biological weapons even if the transconjugant cells are poor plasmid donors. After some time, conjugative plasmids gain other host-benefit genes, such as virulence and drug-resistance.pt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/microorganisms11051238pt_PT
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/58290
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.publisherMDPIpt_PT
dc.relationFCT SFRH/BD/04631/2021pt_PT
dc.relationFCT UI/BD/153078/2022pt_PT
dc.relationFCT UIDP/00329/2020pt_PT
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectconjugative plasmid; plasmid fitness-cost; biological weapons; plasmid transfer rate; donor ability; recipient ability; transconjugants; antibiotic resistance genes; virulence genespt_PT
dc.titlePlasmids Increase the Competitive Ability of Plasmid-Bearing Cells Even When Transconjugants Are Poor Donors, as Shown by Computer Simulationspt_PT
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.issue5pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage1238pt_PT
oaire.citation.titleMicroorganismspt_PT
oaire.citation.volume11pt_PT
person.familyNameRebelo
person.familyNameDomingues
person.familyNameVitorino Nogueira
person.familyNameDionísio
person.givenNameJoão
person.givenNameCélia
person.givenNameTeresa Isabel
person.givenNameFrancisco
person.identifierG-2273-2010
person.identifierA-2129-2009
person.identifier.ciencia-idA015-FF75-397C
person.identifier.ciencia-id3416-6299-1379
person.identifier.ciencia-idF211-4E18-2C69
person.identifier.ciencia-id7413-DB46-16E0
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-8662-7378
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-2970-010X
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-0059-5177
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-3653-1511
person.identifier.scopus-author-id7004351448
person.identifier.scopus-author-id6506790127
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication09097aa0-9d09-459f-a089-84f103805fa4
relation.isAuthorOfPublication4c8102d8-7751-4c14-9fde-9c61488e17b1
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationfd1c0a47-fb41-49e1-a4c9-2575917bc120
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationaa2a19c2-e8bf-4b68-98f3-737d4515e13e
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryaa2a19c2-e8bf-4b68-98f3-737d4515e13e

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