Dodging magic bullets: The evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance

Authors

  • Álvaro San Millán Microbiology Service of the Ramon y Cajal University Hospital (IRYCIS) in Madrid (Spain) and Epidemiology and Public Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERESP).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.14838

Keywords:

evolutionary innovation, antibiotic resistance, bacteria, plasmids, horizontal gene transfer

Abstract

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria currently represent one of the main public health problems and recent predictions indicate that they will soon become the world’s leading cause of death. The ill-fated journey from the introduction of antibiotics into clinical practice to the current threat of a post-antibiotic era has run its course in just a few decades. Thus, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is probably the most spectacular example of evolution of a biological system innovation that we have had the opportunity to observe in real time. This text discusses some of the evolutionary and molecular keys that have allowed bacteria to go down this path.

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Author Biography

Álvaro San Millán, Microbiology Service of the Ramon y Cajal University Hospital (IRYCIS) in Madrid (Spain) and Epidemiology and Public Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERESP).

Researcher in the Microbiology Service of the Ramon y Cajal University Hospital (IRYCIS) in Madrid (Spain) and member of the Epidemiology and Public Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERESP). He directs the PBE lab research group which studies the role of plasmids in general bacterial evolution and in the evolution of antibiotic resistance in particular (www.pbelab.es). His work covers everything from the most basic aspects of the evolutionary biology and population genetics of plasmid-bacterium associations to their clinical applications.  

References

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Rodríguez-Beltrán, J., Hernández-Beltrán, J. C. R., DelaFuente, J., Escudero, J. A., Fuentes-Hernández, A., MacLean, R. C., … San Millán, A. (2018.) Multicopy plasmids allow bacteria to escape from fitness trade-offs during evolutionary innovation. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2, 873–881. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0529-z

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San Millán, A., Escudero, J. A., Gifford, D. R., Mazel, D., & MacLean, R. C. (2016). Multicopy plasmids potentiate the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1, 0010. doi: 10.1038/s41559-016-0010

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Published

2020-01-08

How to Cite

San Millán, Álvaro. (2020). Dodging magic bullets: The evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Metode Science Studies Journal, (10), 207–211. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.14838
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Issue

Shades of science (2020)

Section

Endless forms. Evolutionary scenarios to unravel biodiversity

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