Fast growth can counteract antibiotic susceptibility in shaping microbial community resilience to antibiotics
Name
pnas.2116954119.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.33 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2a615be6f76b718f95ff12049c01c365
Author(s)
Amor, Daniel R
Gore, Jeff
Date Issued
April 12, 2022
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Amor, Daniel R and Gore, Jeff. 2022. "Fast growth can counteract antibiotic susceptibility in shaping microbial community resilience to antibiotics." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (15).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Antibiotic exposure stands among the most used interventions to drive microbial communities away from undesired states. How the ecology of microbial communities shapes their recovery—e.g., posttreatment shifts toward Clostridioides difficile infections in the gut—after antibiotic exposure is poorly understood. We study community response to antibiotics using a model community that can reach two alternative states. Guided by theory, our experiments show that microbial growth following antibiotic exposure can counteract antibiotic susceptibility in driving transitions between alternative community states. This makes it possible to reverse the outcome of antibiotic exposure through modifying growth dynamics, including cooperative growth, of community members. Our research highlights the relevance of simple ecological models to better understand the long-term effects of antibiotic treatment.
Antibiotic exposure stands among the most used interventions to drive microbial communities away from undesired states. How the ecology of microbial communities shapes their recovery—e.g., posttreatment shifts toward Clostridioides difficile infections in the gut—after antibiotic exposure is poorly understood. We study community response to antibiotics using a model community that can reach two alternative states. Guided by theory, our experiments show that microbial growth following antibiotic exposure can counteract antibiotic susceptibility in driving transitions between alternative community states. This makes it possible to reverse the outcome of antibiotic exposure through modifying growth dynamics, including cooperative growth, of community members. Our research highlights the relevance of simple ecological models to better understand the long-term effects of antibiotic treatment.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116954119
