Computational studies that analyzed HGT events among bacterial genomes revealed that HGT frequency positively and strongly correlates with the similarity of tRNA pools between donors and acceptors

HGT typically adds new catabolic routes to microbial metabolic networks. This increases the chance of new metabolic interactions between bacteria

We tested a broad range of Enterobacteriaceae conjugative plasmids for their sensitivity to the growth stage of the donors and identified three distinct regulation types.

In soil, bacteria tend to live in a state of dormancy due to prevailing oligotrophic conditions, which would not be particularly favorable for the development of competence

In culture conditions that enhance cell-to-cell contact, conjugation rates approach 100% with the cis-acting plasmid

absence of nitrogen was found to increase HGT events three orders of magnitude