Towards a better understanding of antimicrobial resistance dissemination: what can be learnt from studying model conjugative plasmids?
11 January 2022
Bacteria can evolve rapidly by acquiring new traits such as virulence, metabolic properties, and most importantly, antimicrobial resistance, through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Multidrug resistance in bacteria, especially in Gram-negative organisms, has become a global public health threat often through the spread of mobile genetic elements. Conjugation represents a major form of HGT and involves the transfer of DNA from a donor bacterium to a recipient by direct contact.
Further reading: Military Medical Research
Author(s): Zhen Shen, Christoph M. Tang & Guang-Yu Liu
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