<i>De novo</i> mutations mediate phenotypic switching in an opportunistic human lung pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria evolving within human hosts encounter selective tradeoffs that render mutations adaptive in one context and deleterious in another. Here, we report that the cystic fibrosis-associated pathogen Burkholderia dolosa overcomes in-human selective tradeoffs by acquiring successive point mutations that alternate phenotypes. We sequenced the whole genomes of 931 respiratory isolates from two recently infected patients and an epidemiologically-linked, chronically-infected patient. These isolates are contextualized using 112 historical genomes from the same outbreak strain. Within both newly infected patients, diverse parallel mutations that disrupt O-antigen expression quickly arose, comprising 29% and 63% of their B. dolosa communities by 3 years. The selection for loss of O

SUBMITTER: Poret AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10871308 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature