Compensation of fitness costs and reversibility of antibiotic resistance mutations.

ABSTRACT: Strains of bacterial pathogens that have acquired mutations conferring antibiotic resistance often have a lower growth rate and are less invasive or transmissible initially than their susceptible counterparts. However, fitness costs of resistance mutations can be ameliorated by secondary site mutations. These so-called compensatory mutations may restore fitness in the absence and/or presence of antimicrobials. We review literature data and show that the fitness gains in the absence and presence of antibiotic treatment need not be correlated. The aim of this study is to gain a better conceptual grasp of how compensatory mutations with different fitness gains affect evolutionary trajectories, in particular reversibility. To this end, we developed a theoretical model with which we consider bo

SUBMITTER: Schulz zur Wiesch P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2863634 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature