Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2025

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Published on: May 2, 2018
Quantifying the impact of antibiotic use and genetic determinants of resistance on bacterial lineage dynamics
David Helekal1, Tatum D Mortimer2, Aditi Mukherjee1
1Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
The dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial populations are informed by the fitness impact of genetic determinants of resistance and antibiotic pressure. However, estimates of real-world fitness impact have been lacking. To address this gap, we developed a hierarchical Bayesian phylodynamic model to quantify contributions of resistance determinants to strain success in a 20-year collection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates. Fitness contributions varied with antibiotic use, and genetic pathways to phenotypically identical resistance conferred distinct fitness effects. These findings were supported by in vitro and experimental infection competition. Quantifying these fitness contributions to lineage dynamics reveals opportunities for investigation into other genetic and environmental drivers of fitness. This work thus establishes a method for linking pathogen genomics and antibiotic use to define factors shaping ecological trends.
Related Concept Videos
Antibiotic Selection
Bacterial Transformation
Griffith made an unexpected discovery when he killed the pathogenic strain and mixed its remains with the live, non-pathogenic strain. Not only did the mixture kill host mice, but it also contained living pathogenic bacteria that...
Genomic DNA in Prokaryotes
Genomic Diversity in Bacteria
Although bacterial genomes are much...
Defense Against Bacterial Pathogens
Phagocytes
Phagocytes are the frontline soldiers of the immune system. They include neutrophils and macrophages. Neutrophils are the most abundant type of white blood cell and are quickly mobilized to the site of infection. Macrophages are larger cells that patrol...
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...

