Horizontal gene transfer by plasmids relaxes the evolutionary constraints of its own tradeoff

Abstract

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a defining feature of plasmid biology, enabling plasmids to spread between bacterial cells and driving the global dissemination of antibiotic resistance and other adaptive traits. HGT and vertical gene transfer (VGT) have long been assumed to be subject to an evolutionary tradeoff, where improvements in one come at the expense of the other. Yet whether this tradeoff reliably constrains plasmid evolution remains unclear. Through the first cross-literature synthesis examining both transmission traits across 16 studies and 245 plasmid-host pairs, we find mixed empirical evidence: patterns consistent with a tradeoff alongside outcomes that a strict tradeoff should make impossible. We propose that this contradiction is resolved by recognizing that a tradeoff is ensured only when plasmid-host pairs are well-adapted to one another. Because HGT introduces plasmids into novel hosts where this adaptation is disrupted, it systematically creates the very conditions under which near-term evolution need not be bound by a tradeoff. We support this framework empirically by documenting the first mutation that simultaneously improves both transmission modes, arising from a non-coevolved plasmid-host pair. These findings reveal a fundamental irony: the defining feature of plasmid transmission is the very mechanism that relaxes the evolutionary constraints of its own tradeoff.