What traits are carried on mobile genetic elements and why?

Horizontal Gene Transfer of the Secretome Drives the Evolution of Bacterial Cooperation and Virulence

(2009) Teresa Nogueira et al.   CURRENT BIOLOGY

GREENBEARDS

(2009) Andy Gardner et al.   EVOLUTION

SYNTHESIS: Evolutionary ecology of microbial wars: within-host competition and (incidental) virulence

(2009) Sam P. Brown et al.   Evolutionary Applications

Competition favours reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

(2009) Rembrandt J F Haft et al.   ISME Journal

Genome Sequences of Three Agrobacterium Biovars Help Elucidate the Evolution of Multichromosome Genomes in Bacteria

(2009) S. C. Slater et al.   JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY

Social evolution in micro-organisms and a Trojan horse approach to medical intervention strategies

(2009) S. P. Brown et al.   PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Conjugative plasmids: vessels of the communal gene pool

(2009) A. Norman et al.   PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

The role of natural environments in the evolution of resistance traits in pathogenic bacteria

(2009) J. L. Martinez   PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Bacteriophages Encode Factors Required for Protection in a Symbiotic Mutualism

(2009) K. M. Oliver et al.   SCIENCE

Bacterial Toxin–Antitoxin Systems: More Than Selfish Entities?

(2009) Laurence Van Melderen et al.   PLoS Genetics

Organised Genome Dynamics in the Escherichia coli Species Results in Highly Diverse Adaptive Paths

(2009) Marie Touchon et al.   PLoS Genetics

Cultural Transmission Can Inhibit the Evolution of Altruistic Helping

(2008) Laurent Lehmann et al.   AMERICAN NATURALIST

A Social Life for Discerning Microbes

(2008) Sam P. Brown et al.   CELL

Exported proteins in probiotic bacteria: adhesion to intestinal surfaces, host immunomodulation and molecular cross-talking with the host

(2008) Borja Sánchez et al.   FEMS IMMUNOLOGY AND MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY

Progress towards understanding the fate of plasmids in bacterial communities

(2008) Frances R. Slater et al.   FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY

Spatial structure and nutrients promote invasion of IncP-1 plasmids in bacterial populations

(2008) Randal E Fox et al.   ISME Journal

Virulence evolution and the trade-off hypothesis: history, current state of affairs and the future

(2008) S. ALIZON et al.   JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Transposable elements as genomic diseases

(2008) Andreas Wagner   Molecular BioSystems

Self-destructive cooperation mediated by phenotypic noise

(2008) Martin Ackermann et al.   NATURE

Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Natural Environments

(2008) J. L. Martinez   SCIENCE