A Genetic, Transcriptomic and Phenotypic Analysis of the Recipient Cell During Bacterial Conjugation

The introduction of antibiotics revolutionised our ability to treat bacterial infections, but yet within less than a century resistance to virtually all classes of antibiotics has emerged. This has occurred because bacterial cells can take evolutionary shortcuts by sharing genes with one another in a process called bacterial conjugation. Conjugation has underpinned the spread of antibiotic resistance amongst bacteria, and yet it remains poorly understood. In this thesis, specific bacterial factors which decide whether or not bacterial cells engage in gene sharing were discovered which may be targetable for the future development of novel drugs and therapeutics.