Genomic insights into the fate of colistin resistance and Acinetobacter baumannii during patient treatment.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of human pathogens has provided unprecedented insights into the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Most studies have focused on identification of resistance mutations, leaving one to speculate on the fate of these mutants once the antibiotic selective pressure is removed. We performed WGS on longitudinal isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii from patients undergoing colistin treatment, and upon subsequent drug withdrawal. In each of the four patients, colistin resistance evolved via mutations at the pmr locus. Upon colistin withdrawal, an ancestral susceptible strain outcompeted resistant isolates in three of the four cases. In the final case, resistance was also lost, but by a compensatory inactivating mutation in the transcriptional regulator of the

SUBMITTER: Snitkin ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3698508 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature