Understanding the dynamics of plasmids is essential for modeling not only the evolution of microbial communities but also the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes throughout an interconnected One Health environment. Sequencing and large-scale population studies have offered insights into plasmid diversity, usually sporadically sampled in time and space. Therefore, it is difficult to infer (1) how host strain, species, or genera impart selective pressures on plasmids, (2) what barriers prevent plasmid movement within microbial communities, and (3) what competition occurs during the coinfection of multiple plasmids in the same host. GEMS trainee Edward Andrews, collaborating with trainee Isaiah Goertz, has identified and characterized sets of plasmids and evidence of horizontal gene transfer among them from a single population of co-housed piglets. This project aims to characterize the competitive landscape between known plasmids of an Escherichia coli population isolated from swine using experimental co-culturing of these strains to track their coinfection, competition, and cooperation in a single and controlled host population using a combination of digital PCR single cell sorting and flow cytometry and droplet isolation technology.