Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Antibiotic resistance

Plasmid evolution in the clinic

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 1806–1807 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Plasmids are well known for transferring antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria. A study in the clinic shows that evolutionary dynamics within the gut microbiomes of hospitalized patients lead to rapid adaptive changes, balancing the level of resistance that plasmids provide against the fitness costs that they impose on bacteria.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A trade-off governs plasmid evolution in the clinic.

References

  1. Hall, J. P. J., Brockhurst, M. A. & Harrison, E. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 372, 20160424 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brockhurst, M. A. et al. Curr. Biol. 29, R1094–R1103 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. San Millan, A. Trends Microbiol. 26, 978–985 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. San Millan, A. & Maclean, R. C. Microbiol. Spectr. https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.MTBP-0016-2017 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Baltrus, D. A. Trends Ecol. Evol. 28, 489–495 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Brockhurst, M. A. & Harrison, E. Trends Microbiol. 30, 534–543 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hall, J. P. J. et al. PLoS Biol. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001225 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Millan, A. S. et al. Nat. Commun. 6, 6845 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bottery, M. J., Wood, A. J. & Brockhurst, M. A. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 1, 1364–1369 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. DelaFuente, J. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01908-7 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Leon-Sampedro, R. et al. Nat. Microbiol. 6, 606–616 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Rosanna C. T. Wright & Michael A. Brockhurst

Authors
  1. Rosanna C. T. Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael A. Brockhurst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael A. Brockhurst.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wright, R.C.T., Brockhurst, M.A. Plasmid evolution in the clinic. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 1806–1807 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01907-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01907-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology