Sublethal streptomycin concentrations and lytic bacteriophage together promote resistance evolution
Year of publication
2017
Authors
Cairns, Johannes; Becks, Lutz; Jalasvuori, Matti; Hiltunen, Teppo Johannes
Abstract
Sub-minimum inhibiting concentrations (sub-MICs) of antibiotics frequently occur in natural environments owing to wide-spread antibiotic leakage by human action. Even though the concentrations are very low, these sub-MICs have recently been shown to alter bacterial populations by selecting for antibiotic resistance and increasing the rate of adaptive evolution. However, studies are lacking on how these effects reverberate into key ecological interactions, such as bacteria–phage interactions. Previously, co-selection of bacteria by phages and antibiotic concentrations exceeding MICs has been hypothesized to decrease the rate of resistance evolution because of fitness costs associated with resistance mutations. By contrast, here we show that sub-MICs of the antibiotic streptomycin (Sm) increased the rate of phage resistance evolution, as well as causing extinction of the phage. Notably, Sm and the phage in combination also enhanced the evolution of Sm resistance compared with Sm alone. These observations demonstrate the potential of sub-MICs of antibiotics to impact key ecological interactions in microbial communities with evolutionary outcomes that can radically differ from those associated with high concentrations. Our findings also contribute to the understanding of ecological and evolutionary factors essential for the management of the antibiotic resistance problem. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences’.
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Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Parent publication name
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Biological Sciences
Volume
372
Issue
31712
Article number
20160040
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
2
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
No
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Biochemistry, cell and molecular biology; Other agricultural sciences
Keywords
[object Object]
Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2016.0040
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes