Evolution of Cost-Free Resistance under Fluctuating Drug Selection in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic resistance evolves rapidly in response to drug selection, but it can also persist at appreciable levels even after the removal of the antibiotic. This suggests that many resistant strains can both be resistant and have high fitness in the absence of antibiotics. To explore the conditions under which high-fitness, resistant strains evolve and the genetic changes responsible, we used a combination of experimental evolution and whole-genome sequencing to track the acquisition of ciprofloxacin resistance in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa under conditions of constant and fluctuating antibiotic delivery patterns. We found that high-fitness, resistant strains evolved readily under fluctuating but not constant antibiotic conditions and that their evolution was

SUBMITTER: Melnyk AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5518267 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature