Stochastic bacterial population dynamics restrict the establishment of antibiotic resistance from single cells.

ABSTRACT: A better understanding of how antibiotic exposure impacts the evolution of resistance in bacterial populations is crucial for designing more sustainable treatment strategies. The conventional approach to this question is to measure the range of concentrations over which resistant strain(s) are selectively favored over a sensitive strain. Here, we instead investigate how antibiotic concentration impacts the initial establishment of resistance from single cells, mimicking the clonal expansion of a resistant lineage following mutation or horizontal gene transfer. Using two Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains carrying resistance plasmids, we show that single resistant cells have <5% probability of detectable outgrowth at antibiotic concentrations as low as one-eighth of the resistant strain'

SUBMITTER: Alexander HK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431077 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature