Mutant Strains of Escherichia coli and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Obtained by Laboratory Selection To Survive on Metallic Copper Surfaces.

ABSTRACT: Artificial laboratory evolution was used to produce mutant strains of Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) able to survive on antimicrobial metallic copper surfaces. These mutants were 12- and 60-fold less susceptible to the copper-mediated contact killing process than their respective parent strains. Growth levels of the mutant and its parent in complex growth medium were similar. Tolerance to copper ions of the mutants was unchanged. The mutant phenotype remained stable over about 250 generations under nonstress conditions. The mutants and their respective parental strains accumulated copper released from the metallic surfaces to similar extents. Nevertheless, only the parental strains succumbed to copper stress when challenged on metallic

SUBMITTER: Bleichert P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7755237 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature