Abstract
It is now nearly 30 years since the F plasmid was discovered and since then many hundreds of plasmids have been found in a wide range of bacteria (and in many eucaryotes) and they are responsible for a wide range of phenotypes. Most bacterial plasmids are stably inherited and consist of an autonomously replicating circular molecule of double-stranded DNA (section 1.4); they are normally quite separate from the bacterial chromosome and, except in certain environments, they are not necessary for the survival of the host cell. They have proven to be invaluable tools in molecular biology and, for example, have been extensively used for studying the properties of bacterial genes and as cloning vectors for a variety of bacterial and eucaryotic genes.
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© 1988 P. F. Smith-Keary
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Smith-Keary, P.F. (1988). Plasmids and Conjugation. In: Genetic Elements in Escherichia coli. Macmillan Molecular Biology Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19491-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19491-9_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-44268-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-19491-9
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