Figure 3. Plasmid-mediated CS can be exploited to preferentially kill plasmid-carrying bacteria.

Survival curves of plasmid-free (gray solid lines) and plasmid-carrying (red dashed lines) bacterial populations in response to constant or sequential antibiotic treatments. Plasmid-free or plasmid-carrying bacterial populations were cultured separately for 2 days with either constant antibiotic exposure or with a change of antibiotic after the first day; treatments are specified by the background colors in each panel. Log-rank test p-values assessing statistically different survival curves are shown. n.s. non-significant. For strains Ec10, Ec18, Ec21, and Ec25 n = 24; for MG1665 n = 48. AZI, azithromycin; COL, colistin.