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The term plasmid was coined in 1952 by the American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg to refer to "any extrachromosomal hereditary determinant." [11] [12] The term's early usage included any bacterial genetic material that exists extrachromosomally for at least part of its replication cycle, but because that description includes bacterial viruses, the notion of plasmid was refined over time ...
In addition, many important genes of prokaryotes are stored in separate circular DNA structures called plasmids. [56] Like eukaryotes, prokaryotes may partially duplicate genetic material, and can have a haploid chromosomal composition that is partially replicated. [57]
Extrachromosomal DNA exists in prokaryotes outside the nucleoid region as circular or linear plasmids. Bacterial plasmids are typically short sequences, consisting of 1 to a few hundred kilobase (kb) segments, and contain an origin of replication which allows the plasmid to replicate independently of the bacterial chromosome. [10]
The genetic material is freely found in the cytoplasm. Prokaryotes can carry extrachromosomal DNA elements called plasmids, which are usually circular. Linear bacterial plasmids have been identified in several species of spirochete bacteria, including members of the genus Borrelia notably Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease. [3]
conjugative - mediate DNA transfer through conjugation and therefore spread rapidly among the bacterial cells of a population; e.g., F plasmid, many R and some col plasmids. nonconjugative - do not mediate DNA through conjugation, e.g., many R and col plasmids. The pBR322 plasmid is one of the first plasmids widely used as a cloning vector.
This can either involve the replication of DNA in living organisms such as prokaryotes and eukaryotes, or that of DNA or RNA in viruses, such as double-stranded RNA viruses. [3] Synthesis of daughter strands starts at discrete sites, termed replication origins, and proceeds in a bidirectional manner until all genomic DNA is replicated.
Minicircles are small (~4kb) circular plasmid derivatives that have been freed from all prokaryotic vector parts. They have been applied as transgene carriers for the genetic modification of mammalian cells, with the advantage that, since they contain no bacterial DNA sequences, they are less likely to be perceived as foreign and destroyed.
3-The mobile plasmid is nicked and a single strand of DNA is then transferred to the recipient cell. 4-Both cells recircularize their plasmids, synthesize second strands, and reproduce pili; both cells are now viable donors. A pilus (Latin for 'hair'; pl.: pili) is a hair-like cell-surface appendage found on many bacteria and archaea. [1]