Outer membrane vesicles from β-lactam-resistant Escherichia coli enable the survival of β-lactam-susceptible E. coli in the presence of β-lactam antibiotics

Si Won Kim, Seong Bin Park, Se Pyeong Im, Jung Seok Lee, Jae Wook Jung, Tae Won Gong, Jassy Mary S. Lazarte, Jaesung Kim, Jong Su Seo, Jong Hwan Kim, Jong Wook Song, Hyun Suk Jung, Gwang Joong Kim, Young Ju Lee, Suk Kyung Lim, Tae Sung Jung

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) containing various bacterial compounds are released from mainly gram-negative bacteria. Secreted OMVs play important roles in the ability of a bacterium to defend itself, and thus contribute to the survival of bacteria in a community. In this study, we collected OMVs from β-lactam antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli established by conjugation assay and the parental β-lactam antibiotic-susceptible strain, and performed comparative proteomic analysis to examine whether these OMVs carried β-lactam-resistant compounds. We also investigated whether both types of OMVs could protect susceptible cells from β-lactam-induced death and/or directly degrade β-lactam antibiotics. Several proteins that can be involved in degrading β-lactam antibiotics were more abundant in OMVs from β-lactam-resistant E. coli, and thus OMVs from β-lactam resistant E. coli could directly and dose-dependently degrade β-lactam antibiotics and fully rescue β-lactam-susceptible E. coli and other bacterial species from β-lactam antibiotic-induced growth inhibition. Taken together, present study demonstrate that OMVs from β-lactam-resistant E. coli play important roles in survival of antibiotic susceptible bacteria against β-lactam antibiotics. This finding may pave the way for new efforts to combat the current global spread of antibiotic resistances, which is considered to be a significant public health threat.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5402
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2018

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