20/03/2019 Evolution of drug-resistant bacteria never exposed to antibiotics

Evolution of Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Never Exposed to Antibiotics Related
Oct. 27, 2017
Content

These Are a Few of

Antibiotic-resistant microbes are a huge problem in human and global health.
Our Favorite (Clinical
One of the microbial characteristics that allows development of resistant Microbiology) Things!
mutations is the short generational time and the large numbers of
microorganisms that inhabit a particular niche. Large populations can Microbial Minutes:
Foodborne Illness
accumulate a small proportion of individuals with mutations in random
Outbreaks, Viral
genes, and these random mutations generally must confer a bene t to the
Defense against
microbe to be maintained within the population. The common understanding CRISPR, and Ebola
is that drug-resistance mutations require drug exposure to be established. Updates
However, a new Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy study reports
Microbial Genomics
evolution of drug-resistance mutations in bacteria that were never exposed to
and the Future of
drugs. 
Food Microbiology

AACJournal: Evolution of antibiotic resistance without antibiotic exposure

In this study, the researchers passaged Escherichia coli or Salmonella

enterica in one of four different growth media without antibiotics for 500-
1000 generations (roughly 1-2 weeks). The passaged cells were tested for
growth with ten different antibiotics and compared to growth of the
progenitor wild-type (wt) strain with that same antibiotic (see gure below).
520 different lineages of the two species were tested in total. Of these, 18
showed increased resistance to at least one drug, and 3 showed increased
susceptibility.

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 20/03/2019 Evolution of drug-resistant bacteria never exposed to antibiotics

Altered susceptibilty to antibiotics in bacterial populations evolved without

drugs.
Source: http://bit.ly/2hh7SwC

First author Anna Knöppel and lead scientist Dan Andersson sequenced the
bacterial lineages to look for resistance-associated mutations. Several
mutations were identi ed in genes well established to be associated with drug
resistance (see table below). The genomes of the less-susceptible lineages had
multiple mutations, so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact mutations responsible,
thought the scientists have good candidates to explore in future studies.

Mutated genes from this study that were

previously associated with antimicrobial
resistance.
Source: http://bit.ly/2hh7SwC

Development of resistance through genome mutation isn’t a surprise;

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microorganisms produce antimicrobial molecules to compete with their
neighbors
20/03/2019
in natural habitats such as the soil. It’s also previously been
Evolution of drug-resistant bacteria never exposed to antibiotics
shown that selection for growth in a stressful environment – such as in the
presence of certain cleaning agents – can select for the mutations that also
affect drug resistance. The new nding here is the evolution and xation of
some of these drug-resistant mutations in populations not experiencing any
speci c stress. These monoculture lineages were growing in relatively rich
medium without obvious selection forces for the observed mutations. 

What does this mean for human health? These results imply that resistance
can arise and be found in bacterial populations based on their growth under
natural conditions. This strengthens the call for discriminatory antibiotic use
to keep these populations from expanding their niche. This basic research
nding demonstrates the importance of stewardship in all cases, because we
never know where resistance may stem from: transmission of already-
resistant strains or selection for newly adapted strains in the absence of
antibiotic use.

ARTICLES CLINICAL & PUBLIC HEALTH MICROBIOLOGY

CLINICAL LAB PROFESSIONAL DRUG RESISTANCE RESEARCHER

AUTHOR: JULIE WOLF

Dr. Julie Wolf is a Science Communications Specialist for ASM

and host of the Meet the Microbiologist podcast. She also runs
workshops at ASM conferences to help scientists improve their
own communication skills. Follow Julie on Twitter for more ASM
and microbiology highlights at @JulieMarieWolf.

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