Broad-Host Dissemination of Plasmids Coharboring the fos Operon for Fructooligosaccharide Metabolism with Antibiotic Resistance Genes

It was believed that members of the family Enterobacteriaceae are unable to grow under conditions with short-chain fructooligosaccharides as the only source of carbon. Nevertheless, the first Escherichia coli isolate from chicken intestine was able to utilize these sugars owing to the chromosomally harbored fos operon.