Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem in today’s world. In this
master’s thesis, we investigated whether electroporation enhances the effect of
kanamycin on the kanamycin-resistant Escherichia coli strain TOP10-pN1, which
contains the pEGFP-N1 plasmid with the nptII [aph(3′)-II] gene conferring
kanamycin resistance, and on the kanamycin-sensitive E. coli strain ER1821. For the
TOP10-pN1 strain, we used electric field strengths of 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 kV/cm and
kanamycin concentrations of 200 and 1600 µg/mL; for the ER1821 strain, we used
strengths of 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 kV/cm and concentrations of 0.5 and 1 µg/mL. We
compared the combined action of kanamycin and electroporation with the effects of
kanamycin alone and electroporation alone, as well as with an untreated control.
Cultivability was determined by counting colony-forming units (CFU)/mL, and the
results were expressed as log₁₀ (N/N₀). With the combined use of kanamycin and
electroporation, we observed a greater reduction in cultivability of the E. coli TOP10-
pN1 strain, particularly at the higher kanamycin concentration (1600 µg/mL). At this
concentration, the combined action caused a statistically significantly greater
reduction in cultivability than electroporation alone at all three-tested electric field
strengths; at 3.5 and 5.5 kV/cm, it also caused a greater reduction than kanamycin
alone. In the E. coli ER1821 strain, a greater reduction in cultivability with the
combined action was observed only at the highest tested electric field strength (3.5
kV/cm), where the combination with 1 µg/mL kanamycin resulted in a statistically
significantly greater reduction in cultivability than the individual use of kanamycin or
electroporation. Under selected conditions, the combined use of kanamycin and
electroporation resulted in a greater reduction in cultivability than the individual use
of kanamycin or electroporation, with the effect depending on the strain, kanamycin
concentration, and electric field strength.
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