Feldgarden Michael, Riley Margaret A
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511.
Evolution. 1998 Oct;52(5):1270-1276. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1998.tb02008.x.
Colicins are plasmid-encoded antibiotics that are produced by and kill Escherichia coli and other related species. The frequency of colicinogeny is high, on average 30% of E. coli isolates produce colicins. Initial observations from one collection of 72 strains of E. coli (the ECOR collection) suggest that resistance to colicin killing is also ubiquitous, with over 70% of strains resistant to one or more colicins. To determine whether resistance is a common trait in E. coli, three additional strain collections were surveyed. In each of these collections levels of colicin production were high (from 15 to 50% of the strains produce colicins). Levels of colicin resistance were even higher, with most strains resistant to over 10 colicins. A survey of 137 non-E. coli isolates revealed even higher levels of resistance. We discuss a mechanism (pleiotropy) that could result in the co-occurrence of such high levels of colicin production and colicin resistance.
大肠杆菌素是由质粒编码的抗生素，由大肠杆菌及其他相关菌种产生并能杀死它们。产大肠杆菌素的频率很高，平均30%的大肠杆菌分离株能产生大肠杆菌素。对一组72株大肠杆菌（ECOR菌组）的初步观察表明，对大肠杆菌素杀伤作用的抗性也很普遍，超过70%的菌株对一种或多种大肠杆菌素具有抗性。为了确定抗性是否是大肠杆菌的一个常见特征，又对另外三个菌株组进行了调查。在这些菌株组中，每个组的大肠杆菌素产生水平都很高（15%至50%的菌株产生大肠杆菌素）。大肠杆菌素抗性水平甚至更高，大多数菌株对超过10种大肠杆菌素具有抗性。对137株非大肠杆菌分离株的调查显示抗性水平更高。我们讨论了一种可能导致如此高水平的大肠杆菌素产生和大肠杆菌素抗性同时出现的机制（多效性）。
