Assessing the Role of Bacterial Innate and Adaptive Immunity as Barriers to Conjugative Plasmids

Abstract Plasmids are ubiquitous mobile genetic elements, that can be either costly or beneficial for their bacterial host. In response to constant viral threat, bacteria have evolved various immune systems, such as the prevalent restriction modification (innate immunity) and CRISPR-Cas systems (adaptive immunity). At the molecular level, both systems also target plasmids, but the consequences of these interactions for plasmid spread are unclear. Using a modeling approach, we show that restriction modification and CRISPR-Cas are effective as barriers against the spread of costly plasmids, but not against beneficial ones. Consequently, bacteria can profit from the selective advantages that beneficial plasmids confer even in the presence of bacterial immunity. While plasmids that are costly for bacteria may persist in the bacterial population for a certain period, restriction modification and CRISPR-Cas can eventually drive them to extinction. Finally, we demonstrate that the selection pressure imposed by bacterial immunity on costly plasmids can be circumvented through a diversity of escape mechanisms and highlight how plasmid carriage might be common despite bacterial immunity. In summary, the population-level outcome of interactions between plasmids and defense systems in a bacterial population is closely tied to plasmid cost: Beneficial plasmids can persist at high prevalence in bacterial populations despite defense systems, while costly plasmids may face extinction.