Collective antibiotic resistance: mechanisms and implications.

Collective antibiotic resistance: mechanisms and implications.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2014 Sep 27;21C:28-34
Authors: Vega NM, Gore J
Abstract
In collective resistance, microbial communities are able to survive antibiotic exposures that would be lethal to individual cells. In this review, we explore recent advances in understanding collective resistance in bacteria. The population dynamics of 'cheating' in a system with cooperative antibiotic inactivation have been described, providing insight into the demographic factors that determine resistance allele frequency in bacteria. Extensive work has elucidated mechanisms underlying collective resistance in biofilms and addressed questions about the role of cooperation in these structures. Additionally, recent investigations of 'bet-hedging' strategies in bacteria have explored the contributions of stochasticity and regulation to bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity and examined the effects of these strategies on community survival.
PMID: 25271119 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - September 27, 2014 Category: Microbiology Authors: Vega NM, Gore J Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research