How do plasmids contribute to antibiotic resistance?
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Solution
Plasmids:
Plasmids are used in genetic engineering and are also referred to as vectors.
They are also used to transfer genes from one organism to another and contain a genetic marker conferring on their phenotype that could be selected along with their independent replication site.
Plasmids can move between several bacteria.
Plasmids have antibiotic-resistant genes that confer resistance to several antibiotics.
These genes help bacteria evade the effects of antibiotics on them.
They also help to differentiate between transformed and non-transformed cells.
When a plasmid carrying the antibiotic resistance gene is plated on antibiotic agar plates, it selects the cells with the antibiotic resistance plasmid.
aac(3)-l, aac(3)-la, and mcr-1 are some of the examples of antibiotic resistance genes.