High variability of plasmid uptake rates in Escherichia coli isolated from sewage and river sediments.

ABSTRACT: The horizontal transfer of plasmids is a key mechanism behind the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. So far, transfer rate constants were measured for a variety of plasmids, donors and recipients. The employed strains typically had a long history in laboratories. Existing data are, therefore, not necessarily representative for real-world environments. Moreover, information on the inter-strain variability of plasmid transfer rates is scarce. Using a high-throughput approach, we studied the uptake of RP4 by various Escherichia coli recipients using Serratia marcescens as the donor. The recipient strains were isolated from human-borne sewage and river sediments. The rate constants of plasmid transfer generally followed a log-normal distribution with considerable variance. The rate c

SUBMITTER: Heß S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7192377 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature