What makes a megaplasmid?

James P. J. Hall*, João Botelho, Adrian Cazares, David A. Baltrus

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Naturally occurring plasmids come in different sizes. The smallest are less than a kilobase of DNA, while the largest can be over three orders of magnitude larger. Historically, research has tended to focus on smaller plasmids that are usually easier to isolate, manipulate and sequence, but with improved genome assemblies made possible by long-read sequencing, there is increased appreciation that very large plasmids - known as megaplasmids - are widespread, diverse, complex, and often encode key traits in the biology of their host microorganisms. Why are megaplasmids so big? What other features come with large plasmid size that could affect bacterial ecology and evolution? Are megaplasmids 'just' big plasmids, or do they have distinct characteristics? In this perspective, we reflect on the distribution, diversity, biology, and gene content of megaplasmids, providing an overview to these large, yet often overlooked, mobile genetic elements. This article is part of the theme issue 'The secret lives of microbial mobile genetic elements'.

Original languageEnglish
Article number20200472
Number of pages13
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume377
Issue number1842
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Jan 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Plasmid
  • Megaplasmids
  • Mobile geneticelement
  • Genome evolution
  • Horizontalgene transfer
  • Pangenome

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