Biofilms preserve the transmissibility of a multi-drug resistance plasmid
Abstract
Self-transmissible multidrug resistance (MDR) plasmids are a major health concern because they can spread antibiotic resistance to pathogens. Even though most pathogens form biofilms, little is known about how MDR plasmids persist and evolve in biofilms. We hypothesize that (i) biofilms act as refugia of MDR plasmids by retaining them in the absence of antibiotics longer than well-mixed planktonic populations and that (ii) the evolutionary trajectories that account for the improvement of plasmid persistence over time differ between biofilms and planktonic populations. In this study, we evolvedAcinetobacter baumanniiwith an MDR plasmid in biofilm and planktonic populations with and without antibiotic selection. In the absence of selection, biofilm populations were better able to maintain the MDR plasmid than planktonic populations. In planktonic populations, plasmid persistence improved rapidly but was accompanied by a loss of genes required for the horizontal transfer of plasmids. In contrast, in biofilms, most plasmids retained their transfer genes, but on average, plasmid, persistence improved less over time. Our results showed that biofilms can act as refugia of MDR plasmids and favor the horizontal mode of plasmid transfer, which has important implications for the spread of MDR.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 09, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41522-022-00357-1
Entities
People
- Benjamin J Ridenhour
- Eva M Top
- Genevieve A. Metzger
- Jack Millstein
- Karol Gliniewicz
- Larry J. Forney
- Matthew L. Settles
- Michael France
- Thibault Stalder
Organizations
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- United States Department of Defense
- United States Department of Health and Human Services