Antibiotic treatment enhances the genome-wide mutation rate of target cells
Abstract
The evolution of antibiotic resistance by pathogenic bacteria poses a major challenge for human health. Whereas it is clear that natural selection promotes resistance-conferring mutations, our understanding of the response of the mutation rate to antibiotics is limited. With hundreds of Escherichia coli cell lines evolving in a near-neutral scenario under exposure to the fluoroquinolone norfloxacin, this study reveals a significant linear relationship between the mutation rate and antibiotic concentration, while also demonstrating that antibiotic treatment compromises the efficiency of DNA oxidative-damage repair and postreplicative mismatch repair. Thus, antibiotics not only impose a selective challenge to target and off-target bacteria but also accelerate the rate of adaptation by magnifying the rate at which advantageous mutations arise.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 18, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1601208113
Entities
People
- Chaoxian Zhao
- Chi-chun Chen
- Chloe Strauss
- Heewook Lee
- Hongan Long
- Katherine Griffin
- Lei Cheng
- Michael Lynch
- Ronald Te
- Samuel F. Miller
- Zhiqiang Ye
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
- East China Normal University
- Indiana University
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences