ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Low-Energy N+ Implantation Mutagenesis Drives
Antibiotic Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus
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1
College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology,
Xi’an 710021, China
2
School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, China
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2023-09-23
Final revision date: 2023-10-21
Acceptance date: 2023-11-03
Online publication date: 2024-01-22
Publication date: 2024-02-28
Corresponding author
Changlong Cai
School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, China
Weidong Qian
College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, 710021, Xi’an, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(3):2383-2391
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ABSTRACT
Low-energy N+ implantation mutagenesis allows Staphylococcus aureus to develop resistance
to vancomycin. Then the vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strain was examined using drug-resistance
phenotypes, and biofilm growth analysis to explore the potential resistance mechanism underlying
the vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strain. The results showed that 9 vancomycin-resistant S. aureus
strains were constructed by low energy N+ implantation mutagenesis. The biofilm biomass and density
as well as the matrix protein content within the biofilms of five representative vancomycin-resistant
strains with muti-drug resistance capacity were significantly enhanced over the original strain, and their
resistance to vancomycin increased by between two and four times. These vancomycin-resistant strains
acquired multiple resistance to different antibiotics. The results indicate that the enhancement of biofilm
formation ability and the matrix protein content within the biofilm might be attributed to be the changes
in the expression of drug-resistant-related genes in vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strains, which were
mediated by low energy N+ implantation, thereby accelerating the formation of drug resistance. These
results provide the theoretical basis for examining the mechanism of environmental radiation-mediating
the drug-resistant formation in S. aureus.