Dynamics of drug delivery determines course of evolution of antibiotic responses in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: To adjust to sudden shifts in conditions, microbes possess regulated genetic mechanisms that sense environmental challenges and induce the appropriate responses. The initial evolution of microbes in new environments is thought to be driven by regulatory mutations, but it is not clear how this evolution is affected by how quickly conditions change (i.e. dynamics). Here, we perform experimental evolution on continuous cultures of tetracycline resistant E. coli in different dynamical regimens of drug administration. We find that cultures evolved under gradually increasing drug concentrations acquire fine-tuning mutations adapting an alternative efflux pump to tetracycline. However, cultures that are instead periodically exposed to large drug doses evolve transposon insertions resulting

SUBMITTER: Crow JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10705423 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature