美国俄勒冈州立大学Jeff H. Chang研究组的最新发现表明，农杆菌毒力质粒具有出乎意料的保守性和全球性传播。相关论文发表在2020年6月2日出版的《科学》杂志上。

Title: Unexpected conservation and global transmission of agrobacterial virulence plasmids

Author: Alexandra J. Weisberg, Edward W. Davis, Javier Tabima, Michael S. Belcher, Marilyn Miller, Chih-Horng Kuo, Joyce E. Loper, Niklaus J. Grünwald, Melodie L. Putnam, Jeff H. Chang

Issue&Volume: 2020/06/05

Abstract: The accelerated evolution and spread of pathogens are threats to host species. Agrobacteria require an oncogenic Ti or Ri plasmid to transfer genes into plants and cause disease. We developed a strategy to characterize virulence plasmids and applied it to analyze hundreds of strains collected between 1927 and 2017, on six continents and from more than 50 host species. In consideration of prior evidence for prolific recombination, it was surprising that oncogenic plasmids are descended from a few conserved lineages. Characterization of a hierarchy of features that promote or constrain plasticity allowed inference of the evolutionary history across the plasmid lineages. We uncovered epidemiological patterns that highlight the importance of plasmid transmission in pathogen diversification as well as in long-term persistence and the global spread of disease.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aba5256

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6495/eaba5256