Do Copper enhance antibiotic resistance (AR) in resistant bacteria and/or induce AR in sensitive bacteria? [RNA-seq]

The aim of this experiment was to determine if the development of resistance to antibiotics can be driven by the concentration and speciation of Cu. Experimental setup was designed to investigate two hypotheses for which two strains of Gram- bacteria have been selected: - Do TE enhance AR in resistant bacteria? Resistant strain: Bioluminescent Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Xen41, Tetracycline resistant) - Do TE induce AR in sensitive bacteria? Sensitive strain: Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Wild Type) Overall design: A 72h exposure hydroponic experiment has been carried out. The growth media was selected to provide optimum free Cu2+ concentration in solution by limiting the complexation of Cu2+ by the constituents in the medium. This media was spiked with three Cu concentrations: Cu=0 (control) Cu=MIC/10 and Cu=MIC (MIC= minimal inhibitory concentration). Samples (bacteria + solution) have been collected after 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours.