Prof. Dr. Michael Brockhurst (University of Sheffield, UK)

Invited guest speaker Prof. Dr. Michael Brockhurst as part of the International SPP 1819 Meeting 17 – 19 October 2018 and guest of the CRC 1182.

Wednesday, October 17^th 2018, 13:00

Wissenschaftspark,
Fraunhoferstraße 13, 24118 Kiel

As guest of the CRC 1182

Prof. Dr. Michael Brockhurst

University of Sheffield, UK

Talks about

“The ecology and evolution of horizontal gene transfer in microbial communities”

Abstract:

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) accelerates evolution through the sharing of functional traits between lineages, such as antibiotic resistance. Bacterial comparative genomics reveals extensive horizontal gene transfer facilitated by plasmids but little is known about how the ecology of microbial communities and their environments affects HGT dynamics. Using simple bacterial communities in potting soil microcosms we show that infectious between species transmission is key to the maintenance of costly plasmids in bacterial communities, and that rates of between-species gene mobilisation are higher in these environments compared to environments where plasmids are beneficial