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Naming and Annotation of Plasmids

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Molecular Life Sciences

Synopsis

Genome sequences are being added to the public databases at phenomenal rates as sequencing becomes faster and cheaper. Plasmids are an important subset of extrachromosomal elements that often make significant contributions to the character of their hosts. Predicting these potential attributes depends on analyzing and cataloging the plethora of sequencing data in consistent and sensible ways. Currently, there is no consensus within the plasmid community on plasmid and gene names or how to handle the annotation of plasmids during the submission process to databases such as GenBank, but there are good models which can form the basis of a general naming system. It is also important to have clearer rules for the naming of plasmid core functions such as replication, partitioning, and conjugative transfer, among others. This entry explores these issues and makes some proposals for a more sustainable and rational system for plasmid naming, annotation, and analysis as consensus is...

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Celeste Brown (University of Idaho), Bill Klimke (NCBI), and Miguel Cevallos (CFN, Mexico) for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E9

    Laura S. Frost

  2. Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Christopher M. Thomas

Authors
  1. Laura S. Frost
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  2. Christopher M. Thomas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura S. Frost .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Chemistry, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA

    Ellis Bell

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Frost, L.S., Thomas, C.M. (2014). Naming and Annotation of Plasmids. In: Bell, E. (eds) Molecular Life Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_568-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_568-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6436-5

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