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Whilst plasmids are known to exist in diverse habitats and encode a range of traits, most of our knowledge about plasmids comes from clinically associated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) plasmids that have already been recruited as vectors of drug resistance and have likely been shaped by strong selection for plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance. Here, we investigated 26 plasmids from the pQBR collection \u2013 a set of large, co-existing mercury resistance environmental plasmids isolated in\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                    spp. from a field in Oxfordshire in the 1990s \u2013 and explored the ability of pQBR plasmids to transfer novel chromosomally encoded traits. New whole-genome sequences for 25 plasmids confirmed that these soil-isolated plasmids are generally very large (140\u2013588\u2009kb), constitute at least six distinct genetic groups and have relatives in various other\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudomonas<\/jats:italic>\n                    species and habitats. Despite significant nucleotide-level divergence, Groups I (pQBR103-like, ~406\u2009kb) and IV (pQBR57-like, ~328\u2009kb) showed remarkable ancient similarities in synteny and gene content both with one another and with the PInc-2\/IncP-2 family of plasmids known to transfer clinically significant drug resistance between\n                    <jats:italic>Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/jats:italic>\n                    hosts. None of the pQBR plasmids sequenced to date harboured known AMR determinants, but putative phage defence systems and metal resistances were evident. Transposable elements, including the Tn\n                    <jats:italic>5042<\/jats:italic>\n                    mercury resistance transposon, were responsible for significant structural variation within plasmid groups, consistent with a predominant role of transposons in rapidly remodelling plasmids. To experimentally test the ability of pQBR plasmids to spread new traits, we developed a novel transposon transfer assay which showed that certain Group IV pQBR plasmids were especially effective at acquiring the chromosomally encoded transposon Tn\n                    <jats:italic>6291<\/jats:italic>\n                    and that this ability to transfer transposons was likely due to specific plasmid factors rather than generic conjugation rate. Our work presents a tractable set of sequenced plasmids suitable for exploring the evolution and dynamics of gene acquisition by pre-AMR plasmids and provides a key case study highlighting the pervasive interplay between plasmids and transposable elements that can drive microbial genome evolution.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1099\/mgen.0.001789","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]],"date-time":"2026-07-22T15:16:32Z","timestamp":1784733392000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The pQBR mercury resistance plasmids: a model set of sympatric environmental mobile genetic elements"],"prefix":"10.1099","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6283-9459","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Victoria T.","family":"Orr","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2050-4631","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ellie","family":"Harrison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1852-6137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Damian W.","family":"Rivett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Natural Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8095-8256","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rosanna C. 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