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:

Following evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance in real time

Nature Genetics volume 44, pages 11–13 (2012)Cite this article

A new study reports the development of the 'morbidostat', a device that allows for continuous culture of bacteria under a constant drug selection pressure using computer feedback control of antibiotic concentration. This device, together with bacterial whole-genome sequencing, allowed the authors to follow the evolution of resistance-conferring mutations in Escherichia coli populations in real time, providing support for deterministic evolution of resistance in some situations.

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

Figure 1: The morbidostat applies a continuous selective pressure to the bacterial population.

References

  1. Toprak, E. et al. Nat. Genet. 44, 101–105 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Barrick, J.E. et al. Nature 461, 1243–1247 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Woods, R.J. et al. Science 331, 1433–1436 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lee, H.H., Molla, M.N., Cantor, C.R. & Collins, J.J. Nature 467, 82–85 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bryson, V. & Szybalski, W. Science 116, 45–51 (1952).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Gould, S.J. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History 1st edn. (W.W. Norton, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Weinreich, D.M., Delaney, N.F., Depressor, M.A. & Hartl, D.L. Science 312, 111–114 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang, Q. et al. Science 333, 1764–1767 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hermsen, R. & Hwa, T. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 248104 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lieberman, T.D. et al. Nat. Genet. 43, 1275–1280 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Comas, I. et al. Nat. Genet. 44, 106–110 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Adam Z. Rosenthal and Michael B. Elowitz are at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.,

    Adam Z Rosenthal & Michael B Elowitz

Authors
  1. Adam Z Rosenthal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael B Elowitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael B Elowitz.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rosenthal, A., Elowitz, M. Following evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance in real time. Nat Genet 44, 11–13 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.1048

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.1048

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

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