FIELD: microbiology.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to clinical microbiology. Method for evaluating the effectiveness of conjugative transfer in polymicrobial communities is proposed. Method involves evaluating the conjugation of the plasmid simultaneously in parallel in the plankton and in the emerging microbial biofilm in the presence of the bacteria of the associates (experiment) and in the absence of them (control). Conjugation frequency is then calculated and compared. If the frequency of conjugation in the experiment is increased by 5 times or more, then the effectiveness of conjugative transmission in the presence of other bacteria is considered high, if the frequency of conjugation in the experiment is reduced by 5 times or more, then the efficiency of conjugative transmission in the presence of other bacteria is assessed as low, if the conjugation frequency increases/decreases less than 5-fold, the effectiveness of conjugative transmission in the presence of other bacteria does not change.
EFFECT: method provides an objective evaluation of the effectiveness of conjugative transfer.
1 cl, 1 tbl, 4 ex
