Coevolution of host-plasmid pairs facilitates the emergence of novel multidrug resistance.

ABSTRACT: Multidrug resistance (MDR) of pathogens is an ongoing public health crisis exacerbated by the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes via conjugative plasmids. Factors that stabilize these plasmids in bacterial communities contribute to an even higher incidence of MDR, given the increased likelihood that a host will already contain a plasmid when it acquires another through conjugation. Here, we show one such stabilizing factor is host-plasmid coevolution under antibiotic selection, which facilitated the emergence of MDR via two distinct plasmids in communities consisting of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae once antibiotics were removed. In our system, evolution promoted greater stability of a plasmid in its coevolved host. Further, pleiotropic effects resulted in grea

SUBMITTER: Jordt H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8049106 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature