通过研究1917年至1954年间从临床相关细菌中取样和分离的质粒，并将其与现代质粒进行比较，研究小组捕捉到了100多年的进化过程。课题组表明，虽然几乎所有PAE质粒都缺乏耐药基因，而且大多数从未获得耐药基因，但少数质粒的进化推动了革兰氏阴性菌对一线和最后手段抗生素的耐药性的全球传播。现代质粒通过复杂的微进化和离子事件演变成一组独特的高度重组、多复制子、自传播的质粒，现在对耐药性传播构成最高风险，从而对人类健康构成最高风险。
据介绍，质粒现在是抗菌素耐药性的主要载体，但由于缺乏抗生素时代（PAE）之前的数据，质粒对人类抗生素的三甲基化如何影响其进化的理解受到限制。
附：英文原文
Title: Pre- and postantibiotic epoch: The historical spread of antimicrobial resistance
Author: Adrian Cazares, Wendy Figueroa, Daniel Cazares, Leandro Lima, Jake D. Turnbull, Hannah McGregor, Jo Dicks, Sarah Alexander, Zamin Iqbal, Nicholas R. Thomson
Issue&Volume: 2025-09-25
Abstract: Plasmids are now the primary vectors of antimicrobial resistance, but our understanding of how human industrialisation of antibiotics influenced their evolution is limited by a paucity of data predating the antibiotic era (PAE). By investigating plasmids from clinically relevant bacteria sampled and isolated between 1917 and 1954 and comparing them to modern plasmids, we have captured over 100 years of evolution. We show that while virtually all PAE plasmids were devoid of resistance genes and most never acquired them, a minority evolved to drive the global spread of resistance to first line and last resort antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria. Modern plasmids have evolved through complex microevolution and fusion events into a distinct group of highly recombinogenic, multi-replicon, self-transmissible plasmids that now pose the highest risk to resistance dissemination, and therefore to human health.
DOI: adr1522
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr1522