In vitro assessment of antimicrobial resistance dissemination dynamics during multidrug resistant bacteria invasion events using a continuous culture device

Antimicrobial resistant pathogens display significant public health threats by causing difficulties in clinical treatment of bacterial infection. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is transmissible between bacteria, significantly increasing the appearance of antimicrobial resistant pathogens, aggravating the AMR problem. In this work, the dissemination dynamics of AMR from invading multidrug resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli to a community of pathogenic Salmonella enterica was investigated using a continuous culture device, and the behaviors of dissemination dynamics under different levels of antibiotic stress were investigated. Three MDR E. coli invasion events were analyzed in this work: MDR E. coli-S. enterica co-colonization, MDR E. coli invasion after antibiotic treatment of S. enterica, and MDR E. coli invasion before antibiotic treatment of S. enterica.