DNA molecules called plasmids — some of which protect bacteria from antibiotics — can spread rapidly through bacterial “communities” that are treated with antibiotics, new research shows.
Plasmids are found within bacterial cells, sometimes slowing bacterial reproduction — but they can carry genes that stop antibiotics from working (called antimicrobial resistance).
The new laboratory study, by the University of Exeter, found that a plasmid that benefits one or more species spreads not just through those species but to others in the community.
Bacterial communities exist both in the environment and in the “microbiome” of individual organisms including humans.
“Very often, antimicrobial resistance isn’t tied to the bacteria itself — it’s encoded in plasmids they carry, and can pass on,” said lead author Arthur Newbury, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
“Plasmids can jump between bacteria and, although most don’t cause antimicrobial resistance, those that do make the new host instantly resistant.
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