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Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli

Plasmids play a crucial role in spreading antimicrobial resistance genes. Plasmids have many ways to incorporate various genes. By inducing amoxicillin resistance in Escherichia coli, followed by horizontal gene transfer experiments and sequencing, we show that the chromosomal beta-lactamase gene am...

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Autores principales: Darphorn, Tania S., Hu, Yuanqing, Koenders-van Sintanneland, Belinda B., Brul, Stanley, ter Kuile, Benno H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8430887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34502136
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179230
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author Darphorn, Tania S.
Hu, Yuanqing
Koenders-van Sintanneland, Belinda B.
Brul, Stanley
ter Kuile, Benno H.
author_facet Darphorn, Tania S.
Hu, Yuanqing
Koenders-van Sintanneland, Belinda B.
Brul, Stanley
ter Kuile, Benno H.
author_sort Darphorn, Tania S.
collection PubMed
description Plasmids play a crucial role in spreading antimicrobial resistance genes. Plasmids have many ways to incorporate various genes. By inducing amoxicillin resistance in Escherichia coli, followed by horizontal gene transfer experiments and sequencing, we show that the chromosomal beta-lactamase gene ampC is multiplied and results in an 8–13 kb contig. This contig is comparable to a transposon, showing similarities to variable regions found in environmental plasmids, and can be transferred between E. coli cells. As in eight out of nine replicate strains an almost completely identical transposon was isolated, we conclude that this process is under strict control by the cell. The single transposon that differed was shortened at both ends, but otherwise identical. The outcome of this study indicates that as a result of exposure to beta-lactam antibiotics, E. coli can form a transposon containing ampC that can subsequently be integrated into plasmids or genomes. This observation offers an explanation for the large diversity of genes in plasmids found in nature and proposes mechanisms by which the dynamics of plasmids are maintained.
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spelling pubmed-84308872021-09-11 Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli Darphorn, Tania S. Hu, Yuanqing Koenders-van Sintanneland, Belinda B. Brul, Stanley ter Kuile, Benno H. Int J Mol Sci Article Plasmids play a crucial role in spreading antimicrobial resistance genes. Plasmids have many ways to incorporate various genes. By inducing amoxicillin resistance in Escherichia coli, followed by horizontal gene transfer experiments and sequencing, we show that the chromosomal beta-lactamase gene ampC is multiplied and results in an 8–13 kb contig. This contig is comparable to a transposon, showing similarities to variable regions found in environmental plasmids, and can be transferred between E. coli cells. As in eight out of nine replicate strains an almost completely identical transposon was isolated, we conclude that this process is under strict control by the cell. The single transposon that differed was shortened at both ends, but otherwise identical. The outcome of this study indicates that as a result of exposure to beta-lactam antibiotics, E. coli can form a transposon containing ampC that can subsequently be integrated into plasmids or genomes. This observation offers an explanation for the large diversity of genes in plasmids found in nature and proposes mechanisms by which the dynamics of plasmids are maintained. MDPI 2021-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8430887/ /pubmed/34502136 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179230 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Darphorn, Tania S.
Hu, Yuanqing
Koenders-van Sintanneland, Belinda B.
Brul, Stanley
ter Kuile, Benno H.
Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title_full Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title_fullStr Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title_full_unstemmed Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title_short Multiplication of ampC upon Exposure to a Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Results in a Transferable Transposon in Escherichia coli
title_sort multiplication of ampc upon exposure to a beta-lactam antibiotic results in a transferable transposon in escherichia coli
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8430887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34502136
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179230
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