The Plasmid Taxonomic Unit (PTU) concept is an initial step for a natural classification of plasmids. Here we present COPLA, a software for plasmid assignation to existing PTUs. To assess its performance, we used a sample of 1,000 plasmids missing from its current database. Overall, 41% of samples could be assigned an existing PTU (63% within the most abundant order, Enterobacterales ), while 4% of samples could help to define new PTUs once COPLA database was updated.

COPLA, a taxonomic classifier of plasmids