Microbe Russian Anti-Plague Research Institute, Saratov, Russia The literature data and experimental results of the authors on the molecular basis of plague agent interaction with invertebrates are discussed. The details of the plague agent life cycle, its genome organization, and molecular genetic mechanisms of its survival in flea vector and on the nematode cuticule are discussed. The experimental data about the ability to form biofilms at abiotic and biotic surfaces in the Yersinia pestis strains of the main and non-main subspecies are presented. Mechanisms of horizontal and vertical transmission of plague agent are considered. The suggestion about participation of the new member in the complex parasitic biocenosis (nematode, vector parasite) is put forward.