Abstract
A phenomenon that warrants attention in the context of gene dissemination in the environment is retromobilization. Retromobilization (or retrotransfer) is the ability of some conjugative plasmids (in particular IncP1 plasmids) to mobilize genes in the opposite direction (from recipient to donor of the conjugative plasmid). This phenomenon has been observed for chromosomal markers, non-mobilisable and mobilisable vectors (Mergeay et al. 1987; Mergeay et al. 1990; Top et al. 1990). As retromobilization appears to be a way for bacteria to capture new genes from other species, an enhanced spread of introduced genetic material into a microbial community could be expected when retromobilizing plasmids are present among the indigenous microbiota.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Top, W., Vanrolleghem, P., De Rore, H., Van der Lelie, D., Mergeay, M., Verstraete, W. (1992). The Importance of Retromobilization to Gene Dissemination and the Effect of Heavy Metal Pollution on Retromobilization in Soil. In: Gauthier, M.J. (eds) Gene Transfers and Environment. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77450-8_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77450-8_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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