How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective

Plasmids are pinnacle tools in synthetic biology and other biotechnological applications. They serve as the simplest approach to introduce recombinant DNA, which is then transcribed into RNA that functions as is or is translated into a protein of interest. Despite their widespread utility, the quest...

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Main Author: Cholpisit Kiattisewee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2025-07-01
Series:Open Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240378
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author Cholpisit Kiattisewee
author_facet Cholpisit Kiattisewee
author_sort Cholpisit Kiattisewee
collection DOAJ
description Plasmids are pinnacle tools in synthetic biology and other biotechnological applications. They serve as the simplest approach to introduce recombinant DNA, which is then transcribed into RNA that functions as is or is translated into a protein of interest. Despite their widespread utility, the question ‘how many plasmids can be used in this bacterium?’ remains underexplored in the existing literature. In this article, I discuss the maintenance of multiple unique plasmids in bacteria through a microbial synthetic biology perspective, both in theoretical and practical aspects. I delve into the existing evidence of multi-plasmid systems, aiming to pinpoint the possible maximum number of unique plasmids a single microbe can carry. Finally, I highlight how the existing applications of multi-plasmid systems drive novel discovery and development in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and other relevant areas in comparison to other non-plasmid strategies.
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spelling doaj-art-76b11a1a9faf4ba1828dcc087a04cf9a2025-08-20T03:09:38ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412025-07-0115710.1098/rsob.240378How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspectiveCholpisit Kiattisewee0Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USAPlasmids are pinnacle tools in synthetic biology and other biotechnological applications. They serve as the simplest approach to introduce recombinant DNA, which is then transcribed into RNA that functions as is or is translated into a protein of interest. Despite their widespread utility, the question ‘how many plasmids can be used in this bacterium?’ remains underexplored in the existing literature. In this article, I discuss the maintenance of multiple unique plasmids in bacteria through a microbial synthetic biology perspective, both in theoretical and practical aspects. I delve into the existing evidence of multi-plasmid systems, aiming to pinpoint the possible maximum number of unique plasmids a single microbe can carry. Finally, I highlight how the existing applications of multi-plasmid systems drive novel discovery and development in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and other relevant areas in comparison to other non-plasmid strategies.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240378plasmidsbacteriasynthetic biology
spellingShingle Cholpisit Kiattisewee
How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
Open Biology
plasmids
bacteria
synthetic biology
title How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
title_full How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
title_fullStr How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
title_full_unstemmed How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
title_short How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective
title_sort how many plasmids can bacteria carry a synthetic biology perspective
topic plasmids
bacteria
synthetic biology
url https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240378
work_keys_str_mv AT cholpisitkiattisewee howmanyplasmidscanbacteriacarryasyntheticbiologyperspective