Plasmidele bacteriene – factori de rezistența antimicrobiană Bacterial plasmids – antimicrobial resistance factors

Abstract

Plasmids are a form of communication between bacteria using genetic information. They allow the horizontal transfer, in the same generation, of genetic information encoding pathogenic traits and environmental resistance, promoting rapid evolution and adaptability to a variety of environments. Plasmids are mostly found in bacteria, but they are also present in multicellular organisms. Plasmids usually contain at least one gene and are not considered independent life forms, even if they possess separate genes from their hosts. Independent strands of DNA were first found in bacterial cells in the late 1940s by researchers investigating how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics and how traits are passed onto offspring by phages (viruses of bacteria) and DNA structures, other than chromosomes. Some plasmids have a determining role in microbial antibiotic resistance, but their mechanisms are not yet fully understood.

Keywords

• plasmids
• antibiotic resistance
• horizontal gene transfer
• antibiotics