Substrate Concentration and Plasmid Transfer Frequency between Bacteria in a Model Rhizosphere

Pearce, David, Bazin, Michael and Lynch, James (2000) Substrate Concentration and Plasmid Transfer Frequency between Bacteria in a Model Rhizosphere. Microbial Ecology, 40 (1). pp. 57-63. ISSN 0095-3628

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Abstract

The influence of substrate concentration on plasmid transfer frequency in the rhizosphere was investigated using a physical model employing a hollow fiber membrane instead of a real root. The absolute number of transconjugants produced increased with increasing substrate (glucose) concentration, but the plasmid transfer frequency decreased exponentially with increasing substrate concentration from 4.4 × 10-3 at 90 μg ml-1 glucose to 1.35 × 10-5 at 3600 μg ml-1 glucose. These results were found to be heavily dependant on donor to recipient ratio and distribution of strains, but independent of initial donor and recipient inoculum density and regime. These observations also show that plasmid transfer frequency is reduced at high substrate concentrations, which suggests that plasmid transfer is either stimulated when growth limiting nutrient is scarce or inhibited when it is abundant.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	C500 Microbiology
Department:	Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Applied Sciences
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	17 Dec 2015 12:49
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 17:29
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/25065

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