Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026

Implementation of In Vitro Drug Resistance Assays: Maximizing the Potential for Uncovering Clinically Relevant Resistance Mechanisms
Published on: December 9, 2015
Mutational pathway determines whether drug gradients accelerate evolution of drug-resistant cells
Philip Greulich1, Bartłomiej Waclaw, Rosalind J Allen
1SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Drug gradients are believed to play an important role in the evolution of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and tumors resistant to anticancer drugs. We use a statistical physics model to study the evolution of a population of malignant cells exposed to drug gradients, where drug resistance emerges via a mutational pathway involving multiple mutations. We show that a nonuniform drug distribution has the potential to accelerate the emergence of resistance when the mutational pathway involves a long sequence of mutants with increasing resistance, but if the pathway is short or crosses a fitness valley, the evolution of resistance may actually be slowed down by drug gradients. These predictions can be verified experimentally, and may help to improve strategies for combating the emergence of resistance.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Treatment Resistant Cancers
Pharmacogenetic Phenotypes: Alterations in Pharmacokinetics, Drug Targets and Biologic Milieu
Principles of Pharmacogenetics: Types of Genetic Variants
Pharmacogenetics of Drug Metabolism: Overview
Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics: Role of Transporters
Polymorphisms occurring in drug transporters can alter...
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...

