Determinants of internal and external R&D offshoring: Evidence from Spanish firms

This paper analyzes the determinants of R&D offshoring of Spanish firms using information from the Panel of Technological Innovation. We find that being an exporter, international technological cooperation, continuous R&D engagement, applying for patents, being a for-eign subsidiary, and firm size are factors that positively affect the decision to offshore R&D. In addition, we find that a lack of financing is an obstacle relatively more important for inde-pendent firms than for firms that belong to business groups. For these latter, we also obtain that the factors that influence the decision to offshore R&D differ depending on whether the firm purchases the R&D services within the group or through the market: a higher degree of importance assigned to internal sources of information for innovation as compared to mar-ket sources increases (decreases) the probability of R&D offshoring only through the group (market).

Fluoroquinolone efflux in Streptococcus suis is mediated by SatAB and not by SmrA

Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic pathogen. With the lack of an effective vaccine, antibiotics remain the main tool to fight infections caused by this pathogen. We have previously observed a reserpine-sensitive fluoroquinolone (FQ) efflux phenotype in this species. Here, SatAB and SmrA, two pumps belonging to the ATP binding cassette (ABC) and the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), respectively, have been analyzed in the fluoroquinolone-resistant clinical isolate BB1013. Genes encoding these pumps were overexpressed either constitutively or in the presence of ciprofloxacin in this strain. These genes could not be cloned in plasmids in Escherichia coli despite strong expression repression. Finally, site-directed insertion of smrA and satAB in the amy locus of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome using ligated PCR amplicons allowed for the functional expression and study of both pumps. Results showed that SatAB is a narrow-spectrum fluoroquinolone exporter (norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin), susceptible to reserpine, whereas SmrA was not involved in fluoroquinolone resistance. Chromosomal integration in Bacillus is a novel method for studying efflux pumps from Gram-positive bacteria, which enabled us to demonstrate the possible role of SatAB, and not SmrA, in fluoroquinolone efflux in S. suis.