Spatial segregation and cooperation in radially expanding microbial colonies under antibiotic stress.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic resistance in microbial communities reflects a combination of processes operating at different scales. In this work, we investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of bacterial colonies comprised of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive cells undergoing range expansion under antibiotic stress. Using the opportunistic pathogen Enterococcus faecalis with plasmid-encoded β-lactamase, we track colony expansion dynamics and visualize spatial patterns in fluorescently labeled populations exposed to antibiotics. We find that the radial expansion rate of mixed communities is approximately constant over a wide range of drug concentrations and initial population compositions. Imaging of the final populations shows that resistance to ampicillin is cooperative, with sensitive cells surviving in the

SUBMITTER: Sharma A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8443724 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature