%0 Journal Article %A Helling Robert, B. %A Kinney, Thomas %A Adams, Julian %T The Maintenance of Plasmid-containing Organisms in Populations of Escherichia coli %D 1981 %J Microbiology, %V 123 %N 1 %P 129-141 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-123-1-129 %I Microbiology Society, %X Populations of Escherichia coli containing a small non-conjugative plasmid were grown in carbon-limited continuous culture. For all plasmids tested the presence of the plasmid lowered the growth rate of the host bacterium, and the proportion of plasmid-containing organisms in the total population declined initially. However, periodically, adaptive changes occurred in plasmid-containing organisms which increased their growth rate. This resulted in oscillations in the proportion of plasmid-containing organisms, and the delayed loss of the plasmid from the population. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-123-1-129