Search results for "plasmid-dependent"

Counteracting the horizontal spread of bacterial antibiotic resistance with conjugative plasmid-dependent bacteriophages

2016

Fight evolution with evolution: plasmid‐dependent phages with a wide host range prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance

2013

The emergence of pathogenic bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics is a serious worldwide public health concern. Whenever antibiotics are applied, the genes encoding for antibiotic resistance are selected for within bacterial populations. This has led to the prevalence of conjugative plasmids that carry resistance genes and can transfer themselves between diverse bacterial groups. In this study, we investigated whether it is feasible to attempt to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistances with a lytic bacteriophage, which can replicate in a wide range of gram‐negative bacteria harbouring conjugative drug resistance–conferring plasmids. The counter‐selection against the plasmid was sh…

Indirect Selection against Antibiotic Resistance via Specialized Plasmid-Dependent Bacteriophages

2021

Antibiotic resistance genes of important Gram-negative bacterial pathogens are residing in mobile genetic elements such as conjugative plasmids. These elements rapidly disperse between cells when antibiotics are present and hence our continuous use of antimicrobials selects for elements that often harbor multiple resistance genes. Plasmid-dependent (or male-specific or, in some cases, pilus-dependent) bacteriophages are bacterial viruses that infect specifically bacteria that carry certain plasmids. The introduction of these specialized phages into a plasmid-abundant bacterial community has many beneficial effects from an anthropocentric viewpoint: the majority of the plasmids are lost whil…