Population Bottlenecks Strongly Affect the Evolutionary Dynamics of Antibiotic Persistence.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial persistence is a potential cause of antibiotic therapy failure. Antibiotic-tolerant persisters originate from phenotypic differentiation within a susceptible population, occurring with a frequency that can be altered by mutations. Recent studies have proven that persistence is a highly evolvable trait and, consequently, an important evolutionary strategy of bacterial populations to adapt to high-dose antibiotic therapy. Yet, the factors that govern the evolutionary dynamics of persistence are currently poorly understood. Theoretical studies predict far-reaching effects of bottlenecking on the evolutionary adaption of bacterial populations, but these effects have never been investigated in the context of persistence. Bottlenecking events are frequently encountered by infecting pat

SUBMITTER: Windels EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8321523 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature