Plasmids are genetic elements that play a role in bacterial evolution by providing new genes that promote adaptation to diverse conditions. Plasmids are also known to reduce bacterial competitiveness in the absence of selection for plasmid-encoded traits. It is easier to understand plasmid persistence when considering the evidence that plasmid maintenance can improve during co-evolution with the bacterial host, i.e. the chromosome. However, bacteria isolated from nature often harbor diverse mobile elements: phages, transposons, genomic islands and even other plasmids. Recent interest has emerged on the role such elements play on the persistence and evolution of plasmids. Here, we mainly review interactions between different plasmids, but also discuss their interactions with other genetic elements. We focus on interactions that impact fundamental plasmid traits, such as the fitness effect imposed on their hosts and the transfer efficiency into new host cells. We illustrate these phenomena with examples concerning clinically relevant organisms and the spread of plasmids carrying antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors.

Endospores of Bacillus subtilis are encased in a protein shell, known as the spore coat, composed of a lamella-like inner layer and an electron-dense outer layer. We report the identification and characterization of a gene, herein called cotH, located at 300 degrees on the B. subtilis genetic map between two divergent cot genes, cotB and cotG. The cotH open reading frame extended for 1,086 bp and corresponded to a polypeptide of 42.8 kDa. Spores of a cotH null mutant were normally heat, lysozyme, and chloroform resistant but were impaired in germination. The mutant spores were also pleiotropically deficient in several coat proteins, including the products of the previously cloned cotB, -C, and -G genes. On the basis of the analysis of a cotE cotH double mutant, we infer that CotH is probably localized in the inner coat and is involved in the assembly of several proteins in the outer layer of the coat.

Spores formed by wild-type Bacillus subtilis are encased in a multilayered protein structure (called the coat) formed by the ordered assembly of over 30 polypeptides. One polypeptide (CotB) is a surface-exposed coat component that has been used as a vehicle for the display of heterologous antigens at the spore surface. The cotB gene was initially identified by reverse genetics as encoding an abundant coat component. cotB is predicted to code for a 43-kDa polypeptide, but the form that prevails in the spore coat has a molecular mass of about 66 kDa (herein designated CotB-66). Here we show that in good agreement with its predicted size, expression of cotB in Escherichia coli results in the accumulation of a 46-kDa protein (CotB-46). Expression of cotB in sporulating cells of B. subtilis also results in a 46-kDa polypeptide which appears to be rapidly converted into CotB-66. These results suggest that soon after synthesis, CotB undergoes a posttranslational modification. Assembly of CotB-66 has been shown to depend on expression of both the cotH and cotG loci. We found that CotB-46 is the predominant form found in extracts prepared from sporulating cells or in spore coat preparations of cotH or cotG mutants. Therefore, both cotH and cotG are required for the efficient conversion of CotB-46 into CotB-66 but are dispensable for the association of CotB-46 with the spore coat. We also show that CotG does not accumulate in sporulating cells of a cotH mutant, suggesting that CotH (or a CotH-controlled factor) stabilizes the otherwise unstable CotG. Thus, the need for CotH for formation of CotB-66 results in part from its role in the stabilization of CotG. We also found that CotB-46 is present in complexes with CotG at the time when formation of CotB-66 is detected. Moreover, using a yeast two-hybrid system, we found evidence that CotB directly interacts with CotG and that both CotB and CotG self-interact. We suggest that an interaction between CotG and CotB is required for the formation of CotB-66, which may represent a multimeric form of CotB.

We report evidence that the CotC polypeptide, a previously identified component of the Bacillus subtilis spore coat, is assembled into at least four distinct forms. Two of these, having molecular masses of 12 and 21 kDa, appeared 8 h after the onset of sporulation and were probably assembled on the forming spore immediately after their synthesis, since no accumulation of either of them was detected in the mother cell compartment, where their synthesis occurs. The other two components, 12.5 and 30 kDa, were generated 2 h later and were probably the products of posttranslational modifications of the two early forms occurring directly on the coat surface during spore maturation. None of the CotC forms was found either on the spore coat or in the mother cell compartment of a cotH mutant. This indicates that CotH serves a dual role of stabilizing the early forms of CotC and promoting the assembly of both early and late forms on the spore surface.

The distribution of nucleotide sequences related to tetK, tetL, tetM, and tetO was studied by dot blot hybridization in 178 strains of Streptococcus and Enterococcus spp. that were resistant to tetracycline. The tetO gene, which is responsible for tetracycline resistance in Campylobacter spp., was detected in six Streptococcus strains and two Enterococcus strains, in which it was borne by similar plasmids. This observation confirms our previous proposal that tetO originated in gram-positive cocci. tetM, the most prevalent resistance gene, was present alone in 109 strains and associated with tetL in 33 strains in which the two genes contributed cooperatively to high-level tetracycline resistance. tetL was present alone in five Enterococcus strains, and tetK was detected in a single Streptococcus strain. The existence of 22 strains that did not hybridize to the probes suggest that tetracycline resistance in streptococci and enterococci involves additional gene classes as well.