The Effect of Outer Space and Other Environmental Cues on Bacterial Conjugation.

Bacterial conjugation is one of the most abundant horizontal gene transfer (HGT) mechanisms, playing a fundamental role in prokaryote evolution. A better understanding of bacterial conjugation and its cross talk with the environment is needed for a more complete understanding of HGT mechanisms and to fight the dissemination of malicious genes between bacteria. Here, we studied the effect of outer space, microgravity, and additional key environmental cues on transfer ( gene expression and conjugation efficiency, using the under studied broad-host range plasmid pN3, as a model.