Plasmid mutation rates scale with copy number

Abstract

Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA molecules that spread by horizontal transfer and shape bacterial evolution. Plasmids are typically present at multiple copies per bacterial cell, and these extra copies increase the supply of plasmid mutations, potentially accelerating their evolution. However, the segregation of plasmid copies to daughter cells is random, introducing an additional layer of genetic drift, termed segregational drift, that might delay plasmid evolution. The interplay between plasmid mutational supply and segregational drift determines the evolutionary rate of plasmid-encoded genes, yet the relative contribution of these opposite forces in plasmid evolution remains unclear. Here, we develop a population genetics framework to predict the rate of plasmid mutations in bacterial populations and validate these predictions using computational, experimental, and bioinformatic approaches. Our findings show that plasmid mutation rates scale logarithmically with copy number and that the supply of new mutations consistently surpasses the impact of segregational drift across all copy numbers. These results underscore plasmids as powerful drivers of bacterial evolvability, where they can potentiate the evolution of critical traits such as antibiotic resistance.