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Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Published on: May 2, 2018
Selective Conditions for a Multidrug Resistance Plasmid Depend on the Sociality of Antibiotic Resistance
Michael J Bottery1, A Jamie Wood2, Michael A Brockhurst3
1Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom mjmb500@york.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Multidrug resistance (MDR) plasmids frequently carry antibiotic resistance genes conferring qualitatively different mechanisms of resistance. We show here that the antibiotic concentrations selecting for the RK2 plasmid inEscherichia colidepend upon the sociality of the drug resistance: the selection for selfish drug resistance (efflux pump) occurred at very low drug concentrations, just 1.3% of the MIC of the plasmid-free antibiotic-sensitive strain, whereas selection for cooperative drug resistance (modifying enzyme) occurred at drug concentrations exceeding the MIC of the plasmid-free strain.
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