Projektnummer

0066851

Zusammenfassung

Extrachromosomal elements, such as plasmids or viruses, are ubiquitous in all three domains of life (eukaryotes, bacteria, archaea). Plasmids and viruses can both be considered as selfish genetic elements. However, plasmids can be distinguished from viruses by their lack of genetic information encoding structural proteins that allow cell exit and dissemination in capsids. Recently, the research team discovered the plasmid pR1SE, a novel extrachromosomal element from a hypersaline Antarctic lake exhibiting genomic characteristics of a plasmid, yet which is released from cells like a lip...