Behavior of E. coli ST131 regarding the acquisition of a blaOXA-48 encoding plasmid

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance has been a challenge ever since the discovery of antibiotics. The rising challenge of resistance has led to the increased use of last-resort antibiotics: carbapenems. It is predicted that a successful E. coli clone, ST131 is apt for the acquisition of carbapenem-resistance encoding plasmids. In this study, we aim to understand how E. coli ST131 respond to acquisition of carbapenemase-encoding plasmids p50579417_3_OXA-48 and pK71-77-1-NDM, also comparing the response to other common E. coli: ST69, ST73 and ST95. We therefore conducted conjugation and plasmid persistence assays for clinical strains of ST131, ST69, ST73 and ST95. Conjugation efficiency, relative fitness and the plasmid persistence were measured and then analyzed with statistical analyses to investigate difference among E. coli ST131 clades and between ST131 the other E. coli clones.