Mechanisms and clinical relevance of bacterial heteroresistance

Antibiotic heteroresistance is a phenotype in which a bacterial isolate contains subpopulations of cells that show a substantial reduction in antibiotic susceptibility compared with the main population. Recent work indicates that heteroresistance is very common for several different bacterial species and antibiotic classes. The resistance phenotype is often unstable, and in the absence of antibiotic pressure it rapidly reverts to susceptibility. A common mechanistic explanation for the instability is the occurrence of genetically unstable tandem amplifications of genes that cause resistance. Due to their instability, low frequency and transient character, it is challenging to detect and study these subpopulations, which often leads to difficulties in unambiguously classifying bacteria as susceptible or resistant. Finally, in vitro experiments, mathematical modelling, animal infection models and clinical studies show that the resistant subpopulations can be enriched during antibiotic exposure, and increasing evidence suggests that heteroresistance can lead to treatment failure.