Fig. 1

Effects of different plasmids on the fitness of P. aeruginosa PAO1. Plasmids produce different fitness effects in PAO1, and these effects tend to remain constant across nutrient environments. a Relative fitnesses of plasmid-bearing PAO1 compared to plasmid-free parental strain in LB. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean (SEM, n = 5). b Comparison of the growth rates of plasmid-free and plasmid-carrying PAO1 in different carbon sources provided by Biolog EcoPlates and in LB broth. The results are the average of six biological replicates of PAO1 and three biological replicates of each of the six plasmid-carrying PAO1 clones. Each panel shows the results for a different plasmid. The colour points indicate growth rates comparisons in the different carbon sources (see legend). The points above the black diagonal line indicate environments where the plasmid produces a benefit, while the points below the line indicate environments where plasmids produce a cost. The dashed line represents the linear regression model of the growth rates of the plasmid-bearing clone against the growth rates of PAO1 over all the environments