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Chemical decay of an antibiotic inverts selection for resistance
Antibiotics are often unstable, decaying into various compounds with potential biological activities. We found that as tetracycline degrades, the competitive advantage conferred to bacteria by resistance not only diminishes, but reverses to become a prolonged disadvantage due to the activities of mo...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Texto |
| Lenguaje: | English |
| Publicado: |
2010
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2811317/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20081825 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.289 |
| Sumario: | Antibiotics are often unstable, decaying into various compounds with potential biological activities. We found that as tetracycline degrades, the competitive advantage conferred to bacteria by resistance not only diminishes, but reverses to become a prolonged disadvantage due to the activities of more stable degradation products. Tetracycline decay can lead to net selection against resistance, which may help explain the puzzling coexistence of sensitive and resistant strains in natural environments. |
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