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oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/1303612026-01-16T01:02:37Zcom_20.500.14352_14col_20.500.14352_15

Extensive antimicrobial resistance mobilization via multicopy plasmid encapsidation mediated by temperate phages Rodríguez-Rubio, Lorena Serna Bernaldo, Carlos Ares Arroyo, Manuel Matamoros, Bosco R Delgado Blas, José Francisco Montero Serra, Natalia Bernabe-Balas, Cristina Wedel, Emilia Florentine Sánchez Méndez, Irene Muniesa, Maite González Zorn, Bruno Objectives To investigate the relevance of multicopy plasmids in antimicrobial resistance and assess their mobilization mediated by phage particles Methods Several databases with complete sequences of plasmids and annotated genes were analysed. The 16S methyltransferase gene armA conferring high-level aminoglycoside resistance was used as a marker in eight different plasmids, from different incompatibility groups, and with differing sizes and plasmid copy numbers. All plasmids were transformed into Escherichia coli bearing one of four different lysogenic phages. Upon induction, encapsidation of armA in phage particles was evaluated using qRT–PCR and Southern blotting. Results Multicopy plasmids carry a vast set of emerging clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes. However, 60% of these plasmids do not bear mobility (MOB) genes. When carried on these multicopy plasmids, mobilization of a marker gene armA into phage capsids was up to 10000 times more frequent than when it was encoded by a large plasmid with a low copy number. Conclusions Multicopy plasmids and phages, two major mobile genetic elements (MGE) in bacteria, represent a novel high-efficiency transmission route of antimicrobial resistance genes that deserves further investigation. 2026-01-15T15:32:23Z 2026-01-15T15:32:23Z 2026-01-15T15:32:23Z 2020 journal article https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/130361 0305-7453 10.1093/jac/dkaa311 1460-2091 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/773830/EU info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/765147/EU info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/613754/EU AGL2016-75536-P 2017SGR170 FPU18/04196 Lorena Rodríguez-Rubio, Carlos Serna, Manuel Ares-Arroyo, Bosco R Matamoros, Jose F Delgado-Blas, Natalia Montero, Cristina Bernabe-Balas, Emilia F Wedel, Irene S Mendez, Maite Muniesa, Bruno Gonzalez-Zorn, Extensive antimicrobial resistance mobilization via multicopy plasmid encapsidation mediated by temperate phages, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Volume 75, Issue 11, November 2020, Pages 3173–3180, https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkaa311 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Oxford University Press