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Bacterial charity work leads to population-wide resistance

Author

Listed:
  • Henry H. Lee

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for BioDynamics
    Center for Advanced Biotechnology, Boston University)

  • Michael N. Molla

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for BioDynamics
    Center for Advanced Biotechnology, Boston University)

  • Charles R. Cantor

    (Center for Advanced Biotechnology, Boston University)

  • James J. Collins

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for BioDynamics
    Center for Advanced Biotechnology, Boston University
    Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University)

Abstract

Charitable bacteria protect antibiotic-susceptible kin The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains is a growing threat in clinical environments, but the process by which they arise is not well understood. Experiments using a continuous culture of Escherichia coli exposed to increasing concentrations of an antibiotic show that a few spontaneous drug-resistant mutants can protect the majority of the population. These highly resistant isolates produce the signalling molecule indole, which activates drug efflux pumps and other protective mechanisms in susceptible kin. This altruism allows weaker constituents to survive and to have the chance of beneficial mutation. More work on the use of intracellular communication by bacteria may prove of value for the rational design of clinical interventions to control resistant bacterial infections.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry H. Lee & Michael N. Molla & Charles R. Cantor & James J. Collins, 2010. "Bacterial charity work leads to population-wide resistance," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 82-85, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:467:y:2010:i:7311:d:10.1038_nature09354
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09354
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Archetti, 2014. "Stable Heterogeneity for the Production of Diffusible Factors in Cell Populations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-8, September.
    2. Wang, Xianjia & Ding, Rui & Zhao, Jinhua & Chen, Wenman & Gu, Cuiling, 2022. "Competition of punishment and reward among inequity-averse individuals in spatial public goods games," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Han, Zhen & Zhu, Peican & Shi, Juan, 2023. "Novel payoff calculation resolves social dilemmas in networks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    4. Zhang, Mingzhen & Yang, Naiding & Zhu, Xianglin & Wang, Yan, 2022. "The evolution of cooperation in public goods games on the scale-free community network under multiple strategy-updating rules," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 608(P1).
    5. J. Carlos R. Hernandez-Beltran & Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán & Oscar Bruno Aguilar-Luviano & Jesús Velez-Santiago & Octavio Mondragón-Palomino & R. Craig MacLean & Ayari Fuentes-Hernández & Alvaro San , 2024. "Plasmid-mediated phenotypic noise leads to transient antibiotic resistance in bacteria," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Hilary Monaco & Kevin S. Liu & Tiago Sereno & Maxime Deforet & Bradford P. Taylor & Yanyan Chen & Caleb C. Reagor & Joao B. Xavier, 2022. "Spatial-temporal dynamics of a microbial cooperative behavior resistant to cheating," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

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