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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Stress-induced Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing on a Chip
Published on: January 8, 2014
Antibiotic stress induces genetic transformability in the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae
Marc Prudhomme1, Laetitia Attaiech, Guillaume Sanchez
1Laboratoire de Microbiologie et Génétique Moléculaires, UMR 5100 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
Abstract:
Natural transformation is a widespread mechanism for genetic exchange in bacteria. Aminoglycoside and fluoroquinolone antibiotics, as well as mitomycin C, a DNA-damaging agent, induced transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae. This induction required an intact competence regulatory cascade. Furthermore, mitomycin C induction of recA was strictly dependent on the development of competence. In response to antibiotic stress, S. pneumoniae, which lacks an SOS-like system, exhibited genetic transformation. The design of antibiotherapy should take into consideration this potential of a major human pathogen to increase its rate of genetic exchange in response to antibiotics.
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