Abstract
The treatment of bacterial infections is increasingly complicated because microorganisms can develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. This article discusses the information that is required to predict when antibiotic resistance is likely to emerge in a bacterial population. Indeed, the development of the conceptual and methodological tools required for this type of prediction represents an important goal for microbiological research. To this end, we propose the establishment of methodological guidelines that will allow researchers to predict the emergence of resistance to a new antibiotic before its clinical introduction.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks are given to F. Rojo, J. Pérez-Martín and B. Sánchez for comments on draft versions of this Perspective. J.L.M. was supported by grants LSHM-CT-2005-518152, LSHM-CT-2005-018705 and BIO2005-04278. F.B. was supported by grants LSHM-CT-2005-518152 and LSHM-CT-2005-018705. D.I.A. was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council, LSHM-CT-2005-51852 and Uppsala University, Sweden.
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DATABASES
Entrez-Gene
Glossary
- Evolutionary trajectories
-
All the steps in evolution that are required to produce a given phenotype. Evolutionary trajectories depend on mutation, selection, drift, migration, ecological constraints and the previous history of the organism.
- Evolvability
-
The ability of an organism or a gene to evolve and change its genotype and, consequently, the phenotype it encodes.
- Fitness
-
The capability of an individual to survive and reproduce in a given ecosystem. Reproductive fitness is often measured as growth rate. Fitness is measured in comparison to other potential competitors.
- Hypermutation
-
A mutation rate that is significantly higher than that observed for most members of a bacterial species.
- Integron
-
A gene-capture unit that is present in plasmids, chromosomes and transposons. It contains an integrase that allows the capture of gene cassettes flanked by conserved repetitive sequences, an integration site and a strong promoter that allows expression of the genes that are present in the cassettes.
- Metagenomics
-
Methodologies developed to describe all of the genetic elements that are present in a given ecosystem. Typically these methodologies are based on non-culture procedures.
- Modularity
-
An attribute of a system that can be decomposed into a set of repeated, conserved cohesive entities that are loosely coupled.
- Persistence
-
A non-inherited trait that is exhibited by a subpopulation of bacteria, characterized by slow growth coupled with an ability to survive antibiotic treatment.
- Phenotypic resistance
-
Resistance that is not the consequence of a genetic event (mutation, horizontal gene transfer), but rather that is caused by the cells being in a particular physiological state.
- SOS response
-
A specific response to DNA damage that involves the blocking of DNA replication and cell division as well as the induction of genes that are involved in DNA repair, recombination and mutation.
- Synthetic biology
-
An area of research that is based on the combination of biological modules to build-up novel biological functions and systems. In some aspects it is complementary to systems biology.
- System biology
-
The study of the interactions between the components (modules) of biological systems that has the aim of understanding these systems as a whole, using quantitative models.
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Martínez, J., Baquero, F. & Andersson, D. Predicting antibiotic resistance. Nat Rev Microbiol 5, 958–965 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1796
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1796
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