Small-plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance is enhanced by increases in plasmid copy number and bacterial fitness.

ABSTRACT: Plasmids play a key role in the horizontal spread of antibiotic resistance determinants among bacterial pathogens. When an antibiotic resistance plasmid arrives in a new bacterial host, it produces a fitness cost, causing a competitive disadvantage for the plasmid-bearing bacterium in the absence of antibiotics. On the other hand, in the presence of antibiotics, the plasmid promotes the survival of the clone. The adaptations experienced by plasmid and bacterium in the presence of antibiotics during the first generations of coexistence will be crucial for the progress of the infection and the maintenance of plasmid-mediated resistance once the treatment is over. Here we developed a model system using the human pathogen Haemophilus influenzae carrying the small plasmid pB1000 conferring resi

SUBMITTER: San Millan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4432117 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature