Persistence of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids in Biofilms.

摘要

Plasmids play an important role in the spread of genes that confer resistance to antibiotics among bacterial pathogens. Given the worrisome rise of bacterial multi-drug resistance worldwide, the goal of our current research project is to characterize the evolutionary mechanisms by which multi-drug resistance (MDR) plasmids improve their persistence in biofilms formed by important wound pathogens. The central hypothesis of this study is that the evolutionary pathways through which stable plasmid maintenance improves are different and more varied in biofilms than in well-mixed liquid cultures due to the uniquely spatially structured environment of biofilms. To address this hypotheses the following aims are being addressed: (i) Compare the persistence of MDR plasmids in populations of clinically relevant bacteria grown in biofilms and well-mixed liquid cultures; (ii) Compare the evolution of plasmid persistence in bacteria grown in biofilms and well-mixed liquids; (iii) Characterize evolutionary changes that occur during stabilization of plasmid-host pairs under both conditions.