Main description:

Plasmids are at the forefront of scientific research as models for understanding innumerable biological mechanisms of living cells, as tools for creating the most diverse therapies, and as invaluable helpers to understand the dissemination of microbial populations. Plasmids: Biology and Impact in Biotechnology and Discovery contains a series of expertly written chapters that describe the latest advances in the basic knowledge of plasmid biology, the specialized functions plasmids confer to the host cell, and the practical utilization of plasmids for discovery, medicine, and agriculture.

Contents:

Contributors

Preface

I. Introduction

1. Historical Events That Spawned the Field of Plasmid Biology

II. Plasmid Replication Systems and Their Control

2. Iteron Plasmids

3. Mechanisms of Theta Plasmid Replication

4. Plasmid Rolling-Circle Replication

5. Replication and Maintenance of Linear Phage-Plasmid N15

6. Plasmid Replication Control by Antisense RNAs

7. Topological Behavior of Plasmid DNA

III. Plasmid Maintenance, Transfer and Barriers

8. Plasmid Partition Mechanisms

9. Resolution of Multimeric Forms of Circular Plasmids and Chromosomes

10. Conditional Activation of Toxin-Antitoxin Systems: Postsegregational Killing and Beyond

11. The Interplay between Different Stability Systems Contributes to Faithful Segregation: Streptococcus pyogenes pSM19035 as a Model

12. The CRISPR-Cas Immune System and Genetic Transfers: Reaching an Equilibrium

13. Plasmid Diversity and Adaptation Analyzed by Massive Sequencing of Escherichia coli Plasmids

14. Conjugation in Gram-Positive Bacteria

15. Mobilizable Rolling-Circle Replicating Plasmids from Gram-Positive Bacteria: A Low-Cost Conjugative Transfer

IV. Specific Plasmid Systems

16. The Plasmid Mobilome of the Model Plant Symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti: Coming up with New Questions and Answers

17. The Agrobacterium Ti Plasmids

18. The Influence of Biofilms in the Biology of Plasmids

19. The Partitioning and Copy Number Control Systems of the Selfish Yeast Plasmid: An Optimized Molecular Design for Stable Persistence in Host Cells

20. Plasmids from Euryarchaeota

V. Plasmid Ecology and Evolution

21. The Plasmidome of Firmicutes: Impact on the Emergence and the Spread of Resistance to Antimicrobials

22. Plasmid-Mediated Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococci and Other Firmicutes

23. Plasmid Detection, Characterization, and Ecology

24. Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence in Gram-Negatives: The Klebsiella pneumoniae Paradigm

25. Plasmid-Mediated Quinolone Resistance

VI. Specialized Functions Mediated By Plasmids

26. Plasmid-Mediated Tolerance Toward Environmental Pollutants

27. Virulence Plasmids of Spore-Forming Bacteria

28. Virulence Plasmids of Nonsporulating Gram-Positive Pathogens

29. Plasmid-Encoded Iron Uptake Systems

VII. Plasmids as Genetic Tools

30. DNA Assembly Tools and Strategies for the Generation of Plasmids

31. Plasmids as Tools for Containment

32. Mining Environmental Plasmids for Synthetic Biology Parts and Devices

33. Using Plasmids as DNA Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

34. Plasmid Biopharmaceuticals

Index