Acquisition of plasmids from Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli strains had low or neutral fitness cost on commensal E. coli.

ABSTRACT: Although it has been hypothesized that the acquisition of plasmids-especially those bearing virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes-increases the energetic burden and reduces the fitness of a bacterium in general, some results have challenged this view, showing little or no effect on fitness after plasmid acquisition, which may lead to change in the view that there are evolutionary barriers for a wide spread of such plasmids among bacteria. Here, to evaluate the fitness impact of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance and virulence genes, plasmids from O26:H11, O111:H8, and O118:H16 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) human and bovine isolates were transferred to the non-virulent E. coli HS and K-12 MG1655 strains. Sequencing and PCR were used to characterize plasmids

SUBMITTER: Cergole-Novella MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11153473 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature