Dear Roeland:
Your topic on the origins of plasmids is an interesting one. It's
outside my specialty but I would guess that some of the items might be:
- devolution of viruses into plasmids
- evolution of expendable genes into a chromosomal unit
- folding (if you look on plasmid gels, there's always a 20 kilodalton
band, I believe this is package units of DNA and would explain viral lysogeny,
plasmid evolution and basic genetic replication)
Take care....john
