Novel plasmids from deep sea

You are cordially invited to the Institute seminar: on Monday 9^th of December at 2.00 pm Msc Karol Ciuchciński from the Department of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology will present seminar entitled „Identification and characterisation of novel plasmid sequences from deep-sea hydrothermal vents”.Abstract:

Plasmids play a crucial role in microbial adaptation and evolution, yet their diversity and adaptive functions in extreme environments remain understudied. Plasmid sequences from Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge hydrothermal vent samples were identified using three modern plasmid identification tools: PlasX, GeNomad, and PLASMe. The first-ever comparison of these tools for extreme environment data was conducted, followed by a multiapproach analysis in which taxonomic and functional biases within each tool’s datasets were examined. A majority voting system was implemented to identify high-confidence plasmid contigs. Within the selected sequences, a high abundance of Pseudomonadota and Campylobacterota was observed, alongside multiple toxin-antitoxin systems. These findings contribute to understanding the role of plasmids in shaping microbial communities under extreme hydrothermal vent conditions and may reveal previously unknown adaptive mechanisms.