Abstract
Plasmids face many of the same problems as bacterial chromosomes. They must replicate themselves, synthesize appropriate gene products, and segregate at least one copy of the plasmid into each daughter cell at cell division. However, plasmids also maintain incompatibility functions that prevent other, similar plasmids from taking up residence in the same cell and in many cases can transfer their DNA to other cells. They exist in a characteristic low or high copy number relative to the bacterial chromosome. This chapter considers the various methods by which plasmids accomplish these tasks.
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Birge, E.A. (1988). Plasmid Molecular Biology. In: Bacterial and Bacteriophage Genetics. Springer Series in Microbiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1995-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1995-6_11
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-1997-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-1995-6
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