What does “plasmid biology” currently mean?

Almost 200 scientists from America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa participated in the Plasmid Biology 2004 meeting, which was organized between 15th and 21st September 2004 in Kanoni (Corfu island), Greece. Various aspects of biology of plasmids and other mobile genetic elements were discussed during the meeting, including problems of replication, transfer, stable inheritance, and evolution. Medical and veterinary aspects of plasmids were highlighted as well as other applications of these replicons. It appears that plasmids and other mobile genetic elements are still excellent models in studies of basic biological problems at the molecular level, and their role in medicine and genetic engineering can be enormous. Moreover, studies on ecology of plasmids provide extremely important data that can be used in environment protection as well as in biotechnology. Understanding the importance of studies on plasmids and other mobile genetic elements, participants of the meeting decided to establish the International Society for Plasmid Biology.