“…Genetic elements such as plasmids, conjugative transposons and phages are frequently associated with the dissemination of genes conferring adaptive traits, e.g. xenobiotic degradation genes (Sreeshan et al, 2014;Rajan and Sobecky, 2017). The selective pressure exercised by oil and sewage contamination is thought to stimulate the occurrence of successful HGT events, as microorganisms may need to rapidly adapt to the new stressful condition (Johnsen and Kroer, 2007;Top and Springael, 2003).…”