Phenotypic switching of antibiotic resistance circumvents permanent costs in Staphylococcus aureus

Bacterial antibiotic resistance is often associated with a fitness cost in the absence of the antibiotic [1, 2]. We have examined a resistance mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus that negates these costs. Exposure to gentamicin both in vitro and in vivo has been reported to result in the emergence of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current biology 2001-11, Vol.11 (22), p.1810-1814
Main Authors: Massey, Ruth C, Buckling, Angus, Peacock, Sharon J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological - drug effects
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Gentamicins - pharmacology
Humans
Phenotype
Spectinomycin - pharmacology
Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects
Staphylococcus aureus - growth & development
Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification
Staphylococcus aureus - physiology
Streptomycin - pharmacology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Bacterial antibiotic resistance is often associated with a fitness cost in the absence of the antibiotic [1, 2]. We have examined a resistance mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus that negates these costs. Exposure to gentamicin both in vitro and in vivo has been reported to result in the emergence of a gentamicin-resistant small colony variant (SCV) [3–8]. We show that the emergence of SCVs following exposure to gentamicin results from a rapid switch and that bacteria exposed to cycles of gentamicin followed by antibiotic-free medium repeatedly switched between a resistant SCV and a sensitive parental phenotype (revertants). The fitness of revertants relative to S. aureus with stable gentamicin resistance was greater in drug-free media, which suggests that S. aureus has evolved an inducible and reversible resistance mechanism that circumvents a permanent cost to fitness.
ISSN:0960-9822
1879-0445
DOI:10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00507-3