How to prevent the appearance of Antibiotic-induced genetic variation in bacteria

Jesús Blázuez, researcher at CNB, has recently published an article in Annual Review of Microbiology, in collaboration with scientists from Hospital Virgen del Rocío and Hospital Ramón y Cajal reviewing antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

The article calls the attention on a dangerous side effect caused by antibiotics: their capacity to accelerate the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria. By targeting essential cellular processes, antibiotics provoke metabolic perturbations and induce stress responses that ultimately promote genetic variation in bacteria, increasing in turn the likelihood of the development of antibiotic resistance. In the publication, the authors review the current knowledge of the mechanisms behind this worrisome side-effect of antibiotics. These mechanisms include production of reactive oxygen species, as well as induction of the stress response regulons, which lead to enhancement of mutation and recombination rates and modulation of horizontal gene transfer. All these phenomena influence the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance. Finally, the authors review possible strategies to stop or decrease the generation of resistant variants.

Blázquez J, Rodríguez-Beltrán J, Matic I. Antibiotic-induced genetic variation: how it arises and how it can be prevented. Annu Rev Microbiol. 2018 Sep 8;72:209-230.

Image: Jesús Bláquez, CNB researcher