在一项新的研究中，来自美国杜克大学等机构的研究人员证实除了一些特殊的情况外，抗生素并不像之前所认为的那样促进细菌抗生素耐药性扩散。相关研究结果于2016年4月11日在线发表在Nature Microbiology期刊上，论文标题为“Antibiotics as a selective driver for conjugation dynamics”。
Antibiotics as a selective driver for conjugation dynamics
Allison J. Lopatkin, Shuqiang Huang, Robert P. Smith, Jaydeep K. Srimani, Tatyana A. Sysoeva, Sharon Bewick, David K. Karig & Lingchong You
It is generally assumed that antibiotics can promote horizontal gene transfer. However, because of a variety of confounding factors that complicate the interpretation of previous studies, the mechanisms by which antibiotics modulate horizontal gene transfer remain poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether antibiotics directly regulate the efficiency of horizontal gene transfer, serve as a selection force to modulate population dynamics after such gene transfer has occurred, or both. Here, we address this question by quantifying conjugation dynamics in the presence and absence of antibiotic-mediated selection. Surprisingly, we find that sublethal concentrations of antibiotics from the most widely used classes do not significantly increase the conjugation efficiency. Instead, our modelling and experimental results demonstrate that conjugation dynamics are dictated by antibiotic-mediated selection, which can both promote and suppress conjugation dynamics. Our findings suggest that the contribution of antibiotics to the promotion of horizontal gene transfer may have been overestimated. These findings have implications for designing effective antibiotic treatment protocols and for assessing the risks of antibiotic use.