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AAT Bioquest

How do I know if my plasmids are incompatible?

Posted May 17, 2024


Answer

Plasmid incompatibility arises when different plasmids in the same cell share identical replication or partitioning systems. Researchers have established a classification system for bacterial plasmids known as incompatibility groups, which is based on similarities in their replication and partitioning systems. Plasmids belonging to the same incompatibility group are unable to stably coexist within the same bacterial cell. In the Enterobacteriaceae family alone, there are currently 27 known incompatibility groups. Today, bioinformatics tools aid researchers in predicting the compatibility of plasmids based on sequence data. However, if these predictions are inconclusive, wet lab experiments involving transformation are necessary to definitively determine whether the plasmids are compatible or not.

Additional resources

Plasmid Incompatibility

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