Figure 1.

Phage and plasmid transfer with independent donors. (a) Single-donor experiments with independent plasmid and phage transfer. (b) Total amount of bacteria in conjugation (black) or lysogenization (grey) experiments, newly formed transconjugants (R_P; green) and newly formed lysogens (R_L; blue) measured as colony forming units log (CFU ml⁻¹) over time in LB (left panel) or SM (right panel) in single-donor experiments (shown are single data points as well as mean ± s.e., n = 4). Grey dashed lines indicate the empirical detection limit at a given time point (Methods). (c) Independent-donor experiments with one donor carrying the plasmid (D_P) and one carrying the phage (D_L). Transconjugants (green) are counted as recipient and lysogen donors, which acquired the plasmid (R_P + D_LP), and lysogens (blue) as recipients and plasmid donors, which acquired the phage (R_L + D_PL). Double-transformants (yellow) are recipients, that acquired the plasmid and the phage (R_LP + R_PL). (d) Total cell number (black) as well as newly formed lysogens (blue), transconjugants (green) and double-transformants (yellow) measured as colony forming units log (CFU ml⁻¹) over time in LB or SM in independent-donor experiments (shown are single data points as well as mean ± s.e., n = 6). For comparison with (b) total transconjugants (R_P + D_LP + R_PL + R_LP) and total newly formed lysogens (R_L + D_PL + R_PL + R_LP) are shown in dashed green or dashed blue lines, but are hidden by the respective solid lines. (e) Model reactions and (f) 24 h simulations of phage and plasmid transfer for the independent-donor experiment (colours and line types as described in (c,d); see Methods for model details).