Plasmids: Current Research and Future Trends

Abstract

Although many archaea harbor plasmids our knowledge on the biol. of archaeal plasmids has remained quite limited. In most cases it is not known how the plasmids are replicated and whether the host benefits from the extrachromosomal element. Sequence anal. of the archaeal plasmids has identified many protein genes whose function cannot be predicted by sequence similarity to known protein. These orphan genes provide a rich repertoire for rewarding functional studies on the mol. biol. of archaea. Despite this lack of knowledge archaeal plasmids are increasingly important as genetic tools and allow to perform genetic studies in archaea. [on SciFinder (R)]