Pleiotropy complicates a trade-off between phage resistance and antibiotic resistance.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria frequently encounter selection by both antibiotics and lytic bacteriophages. However, the evolutionary interactions between antibiotics and phages remain unclear, in particular, whether and when phages can drive evolutionary trade-offs with antibiotic resistance. Here, we describe Escherichia coli phage U136B, showing it relies on two host factors involved in different antibiotic resistance mechanisms: 1) the efflux pump protein TolC and 2) the structural barrier molecule lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Since TolC and LPS contribute to antibiotic resistance, phage U136B should select for their loss or modification, thereby driving a trade-off between phage resistance and either of the antibiotic resistance mechanisms. To test this hypothesis, we used fluctuation experiments and e

SUBMITTER: Burmeister AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7260982 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature