Elevated mutagenesis does not explain the increased frequency of antibiotic resistant mutants in starved aging colonies.

ABSTRACT: The frequency of mutants resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin has been shown to increase in aging (starved), compared to young colonies of Escherichia coli. These increases in resistance frequency occur in the absence of any antibiotic exposure, and similar increases have also been observed in response to additional growth limiting conditions. Understanding the causes of such increases in the frequency of resistance is important for understanding the dynamics of antibiotic resistance emergence and spread. Increased frequency of rifampicin resistant mutants in aging colonies is cited widely as evidence of stress-induced mutagenesis (SIM), a mechanism thought to allow bacteria to increase mutation rates upon exposure to growth-limiting stresses. At the same time it has been demonstrated th

SUBMITTER: Katz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3828146 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature