Pyraclostrobin induces multi-antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli via quorum sensing: A new perspective

Antibiotic resistance seriously threatens to global public health, and non-antibiotic chemicals like pesticides can contribute to its development. Quorum sensing (QS) is an intercellular communication system that regulates group behavior and can potentially become a pathway for the development of antibiotic resistance. This study firstly discovered that exposure to pyraclostrobin at 0.5 mg/L activated QS, resulting in antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) increasing by up to 128-fold against tested antibiotics. Mechanistically, the high expression of the luxS gene induced by pyraclostrobin stress increased the level of the QS signal molecule (AI-2), leading to enhanced QS in antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), thereby upregulating the expression of multidrug efflux pump genes (acrB and marA) and downregulating the expression of outer membrane porin genes (ompC and ompF). Meanwhile, using a QS inhibitor also increased the strains’ antibiotic sensitivity. Additionally, pyraclostrobin exposure damaged cell membranes, induced oxidative stress, and caused gene mutations, further promoting multidrug resistance. Overall, the findings demonstrate that pyraclostrobin exposure can stimulate antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli by activating QS and inducing gene mutations. Therefore, the rigorous application of fungicides is essential to retard the development of antibiotic resistance.