title: Approaches to investigating the ecology of plasmids in marine bacterial communities.
abstract: To better understand prokaryotic gene flux in marine ecosystems and to determine whether or not environmental parameters can effect the composition and structure of plasmid populations in marine bacterial communities, information on the distribution, diversity, and ecological traits of marine plasmids is necessary. This mini-review highlights recent insights gained into the molecular diversity and ecology of plasmids occurring in marine microbial communities.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0230, USA. patricia.sobecky@biology.gatech.edu
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Sobecky
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019992:Databases as Topic; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D008386:Marine Biology; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
chemical_list: D004247:DNA