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1952 October, J. Lederberg, “Cell genetics and hereditary symbiosis”, in Physiological Reviews, volume 32, number 4, page 403:
These discussions have left a plethora of terms adrift: pangenes, bioblasts, plasmagenes, plastogenes, chondriogenes, cytogenes and proviruses, which have lost their original utility owing to the accretion of vague or contradictory connotations. At the risk of adding to this list, I propose plasmid as a generic term for any extrachromosomal hereditary determinant.
1995, Christopher Howe, Gene Cloning and Manipulation, page 144:
This is how the F (for "fertility") plasmid, which forms the basis of a lot of classical E. coli genetics, is transferred from one cell to another.
1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 247:
Bacteria are happy to absorb little rings of DNA called plasmids and adopt them as their own.
2004, Karl Friehs, “Plasmid Copy Number and Plasmid Stability”, in M. Beyer, T. Scheper, editors, New Trends and Developments in Biochemical Engineering, volume 86, page 47:
Plasmids have an essential impact on productivity. Related factors are plasmid copy number, structural plasmid stability and segregational plasmid stability.