title: Determination of conjugation rates on solid surfaces.
abstract: A cytometric method for the estimation of end-point conjugation rates is developed and adapted to surface conjugation. This method improves the through-put of conjugation assays based on replica-plating and results in less noisy experimental data. Although conjugation on solid surfaces deviates from ideal conditions in which cells are continuously mixed, results show that, within the limits of high initial population densities and short mating times, end-point estimates of the conjugation rates are robust measurements. They are independent of the donor/recipient ratios and, to some extent, of the sampling time. Remixing the mating population in the course of a conjugation experiment results in a boost in the frequency of transconjugants.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria (IBBTEC), Universidad de Cantabria-CSIC-IDICAN, Cardenal Herrera Oria s/n, 39011 Santander, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: del Campo
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Revilla
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vielva
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de la Cruz
mesh_terms: D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism