Carbapenem triggers dissemination of chromosomally integrated carbapenemase genes via conjugative plasmids in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Epidemiological surveys have shown that carbapenem resistance is mainly transmitted across species by carbapenemase genes located on conjugative plasmids. As chromosomal integration of carbapenemase genes has rarely been identified, only a few studies have investigated their advantages to the carbapenem-resistant bacterial community. Here, we confirmed the increased stability of bla_IMP-6 on a chromosome-integrated plasmid in an Escherichia coli isolate compared with that on original plasmids in the absence of antibiotic pressure. Although plasmids carrying carbapenemase genes are supposedly lost in successive generations, we found that the complete plasmid backbone was retained in bacterial cells even after the occasional loss of their antibiotic-resistance cassett

SUBMITTER: Abe R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10308940 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature