Advances in molecular mechanisms of bacterial resistance caused by stress-induced transfer of resistance genes—A review

Abstract:

Abstract:The transfer of resistance gene is one of the most important causes of bacterial resistance． Recent studies reveal that stresses induce the transfer of antibiotic resistance gene through multiple mechanisms．DNA damage stresses trigger bacterial SOS response and induce the transfer of resistance gene mediated by conjugative DNA． Antibiotic stresses induce natural bacterial competence for transformation in some bacteria which lack the SOS system． In addition，our latest studies show that the general stress response regulator RpoS regulates a novel type of resistance gene transfer which is mediated by double-stranded plasmid DNA and occurs exclusively on the solid surface． In this review，we summarized recent advances in SOS dependent and independent stress-induced DNA transfer which is mediated by conjugation and transformation respectively，and the transfer of double-stranded plasmid DNA on the solid surface which is regulated by RpoS．We propose that future work should address how stresses activate the key regulators and how these regulators control the expression of gene transfer related genes．Answers to the above questions would pave the way for searching for candidate targets for controlling bacterial resistance resulted from the transfer of antibiotic genes．