Abstract
Symbiosis plasmids bring their own mutagen to the wedding party.
Highlights
Entering into a symbiotic relationship is not something to be taken lightly
Symbiosis brings with it so many potential mutual benefits that it has arisen independently many times in evolution, but overcoming these barriers requires some encouragement. Among bacteria this independent emergence of symbiosis can be encouraged by the horizontal transfer of ‘‘symbiosis plasmids’’—DNA-encoded toolkits that help the recipient bacterium acquire the crucial attributes needed to abandon the single life and settle down with a symbiotic host
The symbiosis plasmids might be expected to magically confer symbiotic properties on any bacteria that happens to encounter them, in practice, the horizontal transfer of symbiosis is quite hard to achieve in the lab between distantly related species
Summary
Entering into a symbiotic relationship is not something to be taken lightly. Previously free-living organisms become beholden to each other and have to tolerate invasion of their personal space to accommodate varying degrees of intimacy, especially when one partner lives within the body or even the cells of the other. Among bacteria this independent emergence of symbiosis can be encouraged by the horizontal transfer of ‘‘symbiosis plasmids’’—DNA-encoded toolkits that help the recipient bacterium acquire the crucial attributes needed to abandon the single life and settle down with a symbiotic host. This perhaps suggests that the recipient bacteria need to undergo further adaptions, beyond the acquisition of a plasmid, in order to go down the symbiotic route.
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