Effect of 2-Hexadecynoic Acid on the Conjugative Transfer of Enterobacteriaceae Plasmids

Plasmids play a pivotal role in horizontal gene transfer, making them key drivers of bacterial adaptation to changing environmental conditions and, in many cases, major contributors to the spread of multidrug resistance. In this context, research aimed at developing strategies to limit plasmid dissemination in clinical settings is becoming increasingly relevant. One promising approach involves the search for inhibitors of conjugative plasmid transfer. In this work, the effect of 2-hexadecynoic acid (2-HDA) as an inhibitor of conjugative plasmid transfer, common among representatives of the family Enterobacteriaceae, was investigated. For the first time, it has been demonstrated that the degree of inhibition by 2-HDA can vary significantly among plasmids belonging to the same MPF or incompatibility (Inc) group. Our findings suggest that it is not impossible to reliably predict the inhibitory effect of a compound on conjugative transfer for plasmids whose MPF systems structures differ from those already studied.