Real-Time Study of Rapid Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Plasmid in Biofilm Using Microfluidics

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 52; no. 19; pp. 11132 - 11141
• Main Authors: Li, Bing, Qiu, Yong, Zhang, Jing, Huang, Xia, Shi, Hanchang, Yin, Huabing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 02.10.2018
• Subjects: Activated sludge; animal pathogens; Antibiotic resistance; antibiotic resistance genes; Antibiotics; Antiviral drugs; bacteria; biofilm; Biofilms; Catastrophic events; cell growth; Drug resistance; E coli; Environmental science; Escherichia coli; Gene transfer; Growth rate; horizontal gene transfer; image analysis; microfluidic technology; Microfluidics; monitoring; Multidrug resistant organisms; plasmids; Pseudomonas putida; Real time; Sludge

Gene transfer in biofilms is known to play an important role in antibiotic resistance dissemination. However, the process remains poorly understood. In this study, microfluidics with time-lapse imaging was used for real-time monitoring of plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in biofilms....