The evolution of no-cost resistance at sub-MIC concentrations of streptomycin in Streptomyces coelicolor.

ABSTRACT: At the high concentrations used in medicine, antibiotics exert strong selection on bacterial populations for the evolution of resistance. However, these lethal concentrations may not be representative of the concentrations bacteria face in soil, a recognition that has led to questions of the role of antibiotics in soil environments as well as the dynamics of resistance evolution during sublethal challenge. Here we examine the evolution of resistance to sub-minimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MIC) of streptomycin in the filamentous soil bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. First, we show that spontaneous resistance to streptomycin causes an average fitness deficit of ~21% in the absence of drugs; however, these costs are eliminated at concentrations as low as 1/10 the MIC of susceptible st

SUBMITTER: Westhoff S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5437928 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature