Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Antibiotic Selection00:57

Antibiotic Selection

Overview
Evolution of New Traits in Microbes01:24

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Microorganisms evolve rapidly due to their large population sizes and short generation times, often exhibiting measurable changes within days under laboratory conditions. Natural selection acts on standing genetic variation, enabling the retention and amplification of beneficial traits that confer fitness advantages in changing environments.Adaptive Pigment Regulation in RhodobacterIn Rhodobacter, a genus of purple non-sulfur bacteria, light-harvesting pigments such as bacteriochlorophyll and...
Development of Antibiotic Resistance01:30

Development of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern that arises when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the effects of antibiotic treatments. This resistance can be intrinsic, acquired through genetic mutations, or transferred between bacteria via horizontal gene transfer. The development of antibiotic resistance poses significant challenges in treating bacterial infections and necessitates ongoing research to develop new therapeutic strategies.Intrinsic resistance occurs when bacterial...
Transduction01:16

Transduction

Among the three main modes of HGT—transformation, conjugation, and transduction—transduction is unique in that it is mediated by bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses.Transduction occurs in two ways. Generalized transduction occurs during the lytic cycle of a bacteriophage infection. In this process, bacteriophages infect bacterial cells, replicate within them, and ultimately cause cell lysis, releasing newly assembled virions. Occasionally, random fragments of the bacterial genome are...
Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance in MRSA01:25

Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance in MRSA

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria arises when microorganisms evolve the ability to withstand drugs designed to kill them or inhibit their growth, rendering once-effective treatments useless. This phenomenon, driven by genetic change and selection under antibiotic exposure, poses a profound threat to modern medicine. Mechanisms include drug-inactivating enzymes (e.g., β-lactamases), efflux pumps that eject antibiotics, mutations altering antibiotic targets, decreased drug uptake, and acquisition...
Evolutionary Processes in Microbes01:26

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Microbial evolution occurs rapidly due to short generation times and a variety of genetic processes, including horizontal gene transfer, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. These mechanisms collectively enable microbes to adapt swiftly to changing environments.Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) allows genes to move between different species and occurs through three main mechanisms: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves direct cell-to-cell contact for DNA...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Counting-based inference of mutant growth rates from pooled sequencing across growth regimes.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

"Recurrent Extinction of Resistance Mutations Leads to Convergent Multidrug Resistance in Sequential Antibiotic Treatment".

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Saturation mutagenesis map of generalist versus specialist adaptations of β-lactamase to novel antibiotics.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Cellular and molecular basis of PfCoronin function in artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Pilot Study: Functional Survival of Human Stem Cell-Derived Islets Microencapsulated With Alginate Incorporating CXCL12 in Non-Human Primates Without Systemic Immunosuppression.

Xenotransplantation·2025
Same author

Massively multiplexed microfluidics maps combinatorial and sequential antibiotic responses in 3D.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
09:00

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Published on: May 2, 2018

Evolutionary paths to antibiotic resistance under dynamically sustained drug selection.

Erdal Toprak1, Adrian Veres, Jean-Baptiste Michel

  • 1Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Nature Genetics
|December 20, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Antibiotic resistance evolves through accumulating mutations. A new

More Related Videos

Design and Use of a Low Cost, Automated Morbidostat for Adaptive Evolution of Bacteria Under Antibiotic Drug Selection
10:50

Design and Use of a Low Cost, Automated Morbidostat for Adaptive Evolution of Bacteria Under Antibiotic Drug Selection

Published on: September 27, 2016

Quantification of Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in an Experimental Evolution Approach
12:32

Quantification of Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in an Experimental Evolution Approach

Published on: December 14, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
09:00

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Published on: May 2, 2018

Design and Use of a Low Cost, Automated Morbidostat for Adaptive Evolution of Bacteria Under Antibiotic Drug Selection
10:50

Design and Use of a Low Cost, Automated Morbidostat for Adaptive Evolution of Bacteria Under Antibiotic Drug Selection

Published on: September 27, 2016

Quantification of Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in an Experimental Evolution Approach
12:32

Quantification of Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in an Experimental Evolution Approach

Published on: December 14, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics and Genomics
  • Pharmacology and Drug Resistance

Background:

  • Antibiotic resistance is a significant global health threat.
  • Evolution of resistance often involves the accumulation of multiple genetic mutations.
  • Understanding the dynamics of resistance evolution is crucial for developing effective treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary trajectories of bacterial resistance under continuous drug selection.
  • To identify specific genetic mutations conferring antibiotic resistance.
  • To compare the evolution of resistance to different antibiotics (chloramphenicol, doxycycline, trimethoprim) in Escherichia coli.

Main Methods:

  • Development and utilization of a novel selection device, the 'morbidostat', for real-time monitoring and dynamic drug concentration adjustment.
  • Cultivation of Escherichia coli populations under constant selective pressure from single antibiotics.
  • Whole-genome sequencing of evolved bacterial strains to identify genetic mutations.

Main Results:

  • Significant increases in antibiotic resistance levels were observed over approximately 20 days.
  • Parallel populations exhibited similar phenotypic resistance trajectories and acquired mutations.
  • Distinct evolutionary patterns were observed: smooth evolution for chloramphenicol/doxycycline resistance via diverse mutations, and stepwise evolution for trimethoprim resistance through mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene.

Conclusions:

  • The morbidostat is an effective tool for studying gradual evolutionary processes like antibiotic resistance.
  • Antibiotic resistance evolution can follow diverse pathways, influenced by the specific drug and target genes.
  • Trimethoprim resistance evolution in E. coli is characterized by a constrained, stepwise acquisition of mutations in DHFR.