創傷弧菌為一棲居於海水環境的嗜鹽性革蘭氏陰性菌，對一些有潛在性疾病或免疫缺陷的人會造成嚴重的傷口感染和致死性敗血症。創傷弧菌依其在生化反應及生物特性上的差異，可大略區分成三種生物型。會引起人類感染疾病的菌株主要為生物1型。在將一創傷弧菌臨床株，YJ016的全基因體定序後，發現有一48.5 kb的質體存在，我們將它稱為pYJ016。分析不同創傷弧菌臨床株或環境株質體存在的情形發現，並沒有和pYJ016相同的質體存在，顯示pYJ016之獨特性。為了解pYJ016在細菌的生長及毒力中所扮演的角色，我們藉由acridine orange將pYJ016從YJ016中移除。實驗結果顯示，將pYJ016從YJ016中移除後，其於基礎或營養培養基中的生長曲線及對小鼠的毒力與野生株YJ016並沒有明顯差異。由此推論，pYJ016與細菌在培養基中的生長及其對小鼠的毒力無關。另一方面，pYJ016上有多個與質體轉移功能相關的基因存在，且其DNA序列與排列順序和F質體上所帶有的tra基因類似，只是缺少部分調控mating signal及合成sex pilus的基因，例如: traM，traJ，traP，traV，traR，traE，traQ，traS及traT等。雖然如此，我們的實驗結果顯示pYJ016仍能以接合作用的方式轉移到其他生物1型的創傷弧菌中，其頻率約為10-3。然而，pYJ016並無法以接合作用或轉形作用轉移到大腸桿菌DH5α中，由此推測pYJ016並無法在大腸桿菌中複製。

Vibrio vulnificus is a gram-negative, marine bacterium that causes septicemia and serious wound infection in persons who are immunocompromised or have underlying diseases such as liver cirrhosis. V. vulnificus is divided into three distinct biotypes based on the phenotypic and host-range differences. Typically, the biotype 1 strains are associated with human illness. A plasmid (designated pYJ016) of 48.5 kb has been identified in the completed genome sequence of a biotype 1 clinical isolate, YJ016. pYJ016 was uniquely present in strain YJ016 among the various clinical or environmental V. vulnificus strains tested. To examine the role of the plasmid in bacterial growth and virulence, this plasmid was cured from the organism by acridine orange treatment. The growth rate of the cured strain was not distinctly different from the plasmid-harboring strain, and the virulence of the cured strain in mice is comparable to the wild-type strain YJ016. These results indicate that pYJ016 is not required for the growth and virulence of YJ016. On the other hand, the organization and nucleotide sequences of some of the open reading frames (ORFs) in pYJ016 are strikingly like those of the F plasmid, except that pYJ016 lacks some genes for the formation of the sex pilus, like traM, traJ, traP, traV, traR, traE, traQ, traS, and traT. Nevertheless, pYJ016 could still be transferred to other biotype 1 strains by conjugation at a frequency of approximately 10-3. However, pYJ016 could not be transferred to Escherichia coli DH5α by either conjugation or transformation, suggesting that this plasmid may not replicate in E. coli.

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