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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Published on: May 2, 2018
The 2009 Garrod lecture: the evolution of antimicrobial resistance: a Darwinian perspective
1Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology, Imperial College, Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK. richard.sykes@london.nhs.uk
Abstract:
Microbes have evolved over 3.5 billion years and are arguably the most adaptable organisms on earth. Restricted genetically by their inability to reproduce sexually, bacteria have acquired several additional mechanisms by which to exchange genetic material horizontally. Such mechanisms have allowed bacteria to inhabit some of the most inhospitable environments on earth. It is thus hardly surprising that when faced with a barrage of inimical chemicals (antibiotics) they have responded with an equal and opposite force. This article compares and contrasts the evolution of antimicrobial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics over the last 70 years in two bacterial species, namely Staphylococcus aureus, a highly evolved human pathogen, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen.
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