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Comment
. 2023 Nov;36(11):1582-1586.
doi: 10.1111/jeb.14239.

The social lives of viruses and other mobile genetic elements: a commentary on Leeks et al. 2023

Iris Irby  1   2 , Sam P Brown  1   2
Affiliations
Comment

The social lives of viruses and other mobile genetic elements: a commentary on Leeks et al. 2023

Iris Irby et al. J Evol Biol. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Illustration of life-histories of phages and plasmids through horizontal and vertical transmission (see Figure 1 for more information).

Keywords: : cooperation; horizontal gene transfer; mobile genetic element; phage; plasmid; sociobiology; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Simplified life-histories of viruses and plasmids.
1.A., A obligately lytic virus leads to chains of purely horizontal transmission, characterized by cell death and minimal rates of horizontal gene transfer. 1.B., Temperate phage viruses and plasmids can create chains of vertical transmission, with genetic material integrated into the chromosome (prophages) or carried as an extra-chromosomal element (plasmids) being transferred to both daughter cells on replication. 1.C., Plasmids can in addition generate chains of horizontal transmission, via the production of conjugative machinery allowing the infectious horizontal gene transfer of plasmid genomes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Open questions in the social lives of viruses.
    Leeks A, Bono LM, Ampolini EA, Souza LS, Höfler T, Mattson CL, Dye AE, Díaz-Muñoz SL. Leeks A, et al. J Evol Biol. 2023 Nov;36(11):1551-1567. doi: 10.1111/jeb.14203. J Evol Biol. 2023. PMID: 37975507 Free PMC article. Review.

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