A competitive trade-off limits the selective advantage of increased antibiotic production.

ABSTRACT: In structured environments, antibiotic-producing microorganisms can gain a selective advantage by inhibiting nearby competing species¹. However, despite their genetic potential^2,3, natural isolates often make only small amounts of antibiotics, and laboratory evolution can lead to loss rather than enhancement of antibiotic production⁴. Here, we show that, due to competition with antibiotic-resistant cheater cells, increased levels of antibiotic production can actually decrease the selective advantage to producers. Competing fluorescently labelled Escherichia coli colicin producers with non-producing resistant and sensitive strains on solid media, we found that although producer colonies can greatly benefit from the inhibition of nearby sensitive colonies, th

SUBMITTER: Gerardin Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5046839 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature