Regulatory fine-tuning of mcr-1 increases bacterial fitness and stabilises antibiotic resistance in agricultural settings.

Antibiotic resistance tends to carry fitness costs, making it difficult to understand how resistance can be maintained in the absence of continual antibiotic exposure. Here we investigate this problem in the context of mcr-1, a globally disseminated gene that confers resistance to colistin, an agricultural antibiotic that is used as a last resort for the treatment of multi-drug resistant infections. Here we show that regulatory evolution has fine-tuned the expression of mcr-1, allowing E. coli to reduce the fitness cost of mcr-1 while simultaneously increasing colistin resistance. Conjugative plasmids have transferred low-cost/high-resistance mcr-1 alleles across an incredible diversity of E. coli strains, further stabilising mcr-1 at the species level. Regulatory mutations were associated with increased mcr-1 stability in pig farms following a ban on the use of colistin as a growth promoter that decreased colistin consumption by 90%. Our study shows how regulatory evolution and plasmid transfer can combine to stabilise resistance and limit the impact of reducing antibiotic consumption.

High parasite diversity accelerates host adaptation and diversification.

Host-parasite species pairs are known to coevolve, but how multiple parasites coevolve with their host is unclear. By using experimental coevolution of a host bacterium and its viral parasites, we revealed that diverse parasite communities accelerated host evolution and altered coevolutionary dynamics to enhance host resistance and decrease parasite infectivity. Increases in parasite diversity drove shifts in the mode of selection from fluctuating (Red Queen) dynamics to predominately directional (arms race) dynamics. Arms race dynamics were characterized by selective sweeps of generalist resistance mutations in the genes for the host bacterium's cell surface lipopolysaccharide (a bacteriophage receptor), which caused faster molecular evolution within host populations and greater genetic divergence among populations. These results indicate that exposure to multiple parasites influences the rate and type of host-parasite coevolution.

Epistasis between antibiotic resistance mutations and genetic background shape the fitness effect of resistance across species of Pseudomonas.

Antibiotic resistance often evolves by mutations at conserved sites in essential genes, resulting in parallel molecular evolution between divergent bacterial strains and species. Whether these resistance mutations are having parallel effects on fitness across bacterial taxa, however, is unclear. This is an important point to address, because the fitness effects of resistance mutations play a key role in the spread and maintenance of resistance in pathogen populations. We address this idea by measuring the fitness effect of a collection of rifampicin resistance mutations in the ß subunit of RNA polymerase (rpoB) across eight strains that span the diversity of the genus Pseudomonas We find that almost 50% of rpoB mutations have background-dependent fitness costs, demonstrating that epistatic interactions between rpoB and the rest of the genome are common. Moreover, epistasis is typically strong, and it is the dominant genetic determinant of the cost of resistance mutations. To investigate the functional basis of epistasis, and because rpoB plays a central role in transcription, we measured the effects of common rpoB mutations on transcriptional efficiency across three strains of Pseudomonas Transcriptional efficiency correlates strongly to fitness across strains, and epistasis arises because individual rpoB mutations have differential effects on transcriptional efficiency in different genetic backgrounds.

Persistence and resistance as complementary bacterial adaptations to antibiotics.

Bacterial persistence represents a simple of phenotypic heterogeneity, whereby a proportion of cells in an isogenic bacterial population can survive exposure to lethal stresses such as antibiotics. In contrast, genetically based antibiotic resistance allows for continued growth in the presence of antibiotics. It is unclear, however, whether resistance and persistence are complementary or alternative evolutionary adaptations to antibiotics. Here, we investigate the co-evolution of resistance and persistence across the genus Pseudomonas using comparative methods that correct for phylogenetic nonindependence. We find that strains of Pseudomonas vary extensively in both their intrinsic resistance to antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and rifampicin) and persistence following exposure to these antibiotics. Crucially, we find that persistence correlates positively to antibiotic resistance across strains. However, we find that different genes control resistance and persistence implying that they are independent traits. Specifically, we find that the number of type II toxin-antitoxin systems (TAs) in the genome of a strain is correlated to persistence, but not resistance. Our study shows that persistence and antibiotic resistance are complementary, but independent, evolutionary adaptations to stress and it highlights the key role played by TAs in the evolution of persistence.

Positive selection and compensatory adaptation interact to stabilize non-transmissible plasmids.

Plasmids are important drivers of bacterial evolution, but it is challenging to understand how plasmids persist over the long term because plasmid carriage is costly. Classical models predict that horizontal transfer is necessary for plasmid persistence, but recent work shows that almost half of plasmids are non-transmissible. Here we use a combination of mathematical modelling and experimental evolution to investigate how a costly, non-transmissible plasmid, pNUK73, can be maintained in populations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Compensatory adaptation increases plasmid stability by eliminating the cost of plasmid carriage. However, positive selection for plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance is required to maintain the plasmid by offsetting reductions in plasmid frequency due to segregational loss. Crucially, we show that compensatory adaptation and positive selection reinforce each other's effects. Our study provides a new understanding of how plasmids persist in bacterial populations, and it helps to explain why resistance can be maintained after antibiotic use is stopped.

Sex drives intracellular conflict in yeast.

Theory predicts that sex can drive the evolution of conflict within the cell. During asexual reproduction, genetic material within the cell is inherited as a single unit, selecting for cooperation both within the genome as well as between the extra-genomic elements within the cell (e.g. plasmids and endosymbionts). Under sexual reproduction, this unity is broken down as parental genomes are distributed between meiotic progeny. Genetic elements able to transmit to more than 50% of meiotic progeny have a transmission advantage over the rest of the genome and are able to spread, even where they reduce the fitness of the individual as a whole. Sexual reproduction is therefore expected to drive the evolution of selfish genetic elements (SGEs). Here, we directly test this hypothesis by studying the evolution of two independent SGEs, the 2-µm plasmid and selfish mitochondria, in populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Following 22 rounds of sexual reproduction, 2-µm copy number increased by approximately 13.2 (±5.6) copies per cell, whereas in asexual populations copy number decreased by approximately 5.1 (±1.5) copies per cell. Given that the burden imposed by this parasite increases with copy number, these results support the idea that sex drives the evolution of increased SGE virulence. Moreover, we found that mitochondria that are respiratory-deficient rapidly invaded sexual but not asexual populations, demonstrating that frequent outcrossed sex can drive the de novo evolution of genetic parasites. Our study highlights the genomic perils of sex and suggests that SGEs may play a key role in driving major evolutionary transitions, such as uniparental inheritance.

The cost of copy number in a selfish genetic element: the 2-µm plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Many autonomously replicating genetic elements exist as multiple copies within the cell. The copy number of these elements is often assumed to have important fitness consequences for both element and host, yet the forces shaping its evolution are not well understood. The 2 µm is a multicopy plasmid of Saccharomyces yeasts, encoding just four genes that are solely involved in plasmid replication. One simple model for the fitness relationship between yeasts and 2 µm is that plasmid copy number evolves as a trade-off between selection for increased vertical transmission, favouring high copy number, and selection for decreased virulence, favouring low copy number. To test this model, we experimentally manipulated the copy number of the plasmid and directly measured the fitness cost, in terms of growth rate reduction, associated with high plasmid copy number. We find that the fitness burden imposed by the 2 µm increases with plasmid copy number, such that each copy imposes a fitness burden of 0.17% (± 0.008%), greatly exceeding the cost expected for it to be stably maintained in yeast populations. Our results demonstrate the crucial importance of copy number in the evolution of yeast per 2 µm associations and pave the way for future studies examining how selection can shape the cost of multicopy elements.

Diminishing returns from beneficial mutations and pervasive epistasis shape the fitness landscape for rifampicin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Because adaptation depends upon the fixation of novel beneficial mutations, the fitness effects of beneficial mutations that are substituted by selection are key to our understanding of the process of adaptation. In this study, we experimentally investigated the fitness effects of beneficial mutations that are substituted when populations of the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapt to the antibiotic rifampicin. Specifically, we isolated the first beneficial mutation to be fixed by selection when 96 populations of three different genotypes of P. aeruginosa that vary considerably in fitness in the presence of rifampicin were challenged with adapting to a high dose of this antibiotic. The simple genetics of rifampicin resistance allowed us to determine the genetic basis of adaptation in the majority of our populations. We show that the average fitness effects of fixed beneficial mutations show a simple and clear pattern of diminishing returns, such that selection tends to fix mutations with progressively smaller effects as populations approach a peak on the adaptive landscape. The fitness effects of individual mutations, on the other hand, are highly idiosyncratic across genetic backgrounds, revealing pervasive epistasis. In spite of this complexity of genetic interactions in this system, there is an overall tendency toward diminishing-returns epistasis. We argue that a simple overall pattern of diminishing-returns adaptation emerges, despite pervasive epistasis between beneficial mutations, because many beneficial mutations are available, and while the fitness landscape is rugged at the fine scale, it is smooth and regular when we consider the average over possible routes to adaptation. In the context of antibiotic resistance, these results show that acquiring mutations that confer low levels of antibiotic resistance does not impose any constraint on the ability to evolve high levels of resistance.

Predicting epistasis: an experimental test of metabolic control theory with bacterial transcription and translation.

Epistatic interactions between mutations are thought to play a crucial role in a number of evolutionary processes, including adaptation and sex. Evidence for epistasis is abundant, but tests of general theoretical models that can predict epistasis are lacking. In this study, I test the ability of metabolic control theory to predict epistasis using a novel experimental approach that combines phenotypic and genetic perturbations of enzymes involved in gene expression and protein synthesis in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These experiments provide experimental support for two key predictions of metabolic control theory: (i) epistasis between genes involved in the same pathway is antagonistic; (ii) epistasis becomes increasingly antagonistic as mutational severity increases. Metabolic control theory is a general theory that applies to any set of genes that are involved in the same linear processing chain, not just metabolic pathways, and I argue that this theory is likely to have important implications for predicting epistasis between functionally coupled genes, such as those involved in antibiotic resistance. Finally, this study highlights the fact that phenotypic manipulations of gene activity provide a powerful method for studying epistasis that complements existing genetic methods.

The cost of multiple drug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The spread of bacterial antibiotic resistance mutations is thought to be constrained by their pleiotropic fitness costs. Here we investigate the fitness costs of resistance in the context of the evolution of multiple drug resistance (MDR), by measuring the cost of acquiring streptomycin resistance mutations (StrepR) in independent strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying different rifampicin resistance (RifR) mutations. In the absence of antibiotics, StrepR mutations are associated with similar fitness costs in different RifR genetic backgrounds. The cost of StrepR mutations is greater in a rifampicin-sensitive (RifS) background, directly demonstrating antagonistic epistasis between resistance mutations. In the presence of rifampicin, StrepR mutations have contrasting effects in different RifR backgrounds: StrepR mutations have no detectable costs in some RifR backgrounds and massive fitness costs in others. Our results clearly demonstrate the importance of epistasis and genotype-by-environment interactions for the evolution of MDR.

The tragedy of the commons in microbial populations: insights from theoretical, comparative and experimental studies.

First principles of thermodynamics imply that metabolic pathways are faced with a trade-off between the rate and yield of ATP production. Simple evolutionary models argue that this trade-off generates a fundamental social conflict in microbial populations: average fitness in a population is highest if all individuals exploit common resources efficiently, but individual reproductive rate is maximized by consuming common resources at the highest possible rate, a scenario known as the tragedy of the commons. In this paper, I review studies that have addressed two key questions: What is the evidence that the rate-yield trade-off is an evolutionary constraint on metabolic pathways? And, if so, what determines evolutionary outcome of the conflicts generated by this trade-off? Comparative studies and microbial experiments provide evidence that the rate-yield trade-off is an evolutionary constraint that is driven by thermodynamic constraints that are common to all metabolic pathways and pathway-specific constraints that reflect the evolutionary history of populations. Microbial selection experiments show that the evolutionary consequences of this trade-off depend on both kin selection and biochemical constraints. In well-mixed populations with low relatedness, genotypes with rapid and efficient metabolism can coexist as a result of negative frequency-dependent selection generated by density-dependent biochemical costs of rapid metabolism. Kin selection can promote the maintenance of efficient metabolism in structured populations with high relatedness by ensuring that genotypes with efficient metabolic pathways gain an indirect fitness benefit from their competitive restraint. I conclude by suggesting avenues for future research and by discussing the broader implications of this work for microbial social evolution.

Diversity and productivity peak at intermediate dispersal rate in evolving metacommunities.

Positive relationships between species diversity and productivity have been reported for a number of ecosystems. Theoretical and experimental studies have attempted to determine the mechanisms that generate this pattern over short timescales, but little attention has been given to the problem of understanding how diversity and productivity are linked over evolutionary timescales. Here, we investigate the role of dispersal in determining both diversity and productivity over evolutionary timescales, using experimental metacommunities of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens assembled by divergent natural selection. We show that both regional diversity and productivity peak at an intermediate dispersal rate. Moreover, we demonstrate that these two patterns are linked: selection at intermediate rates of dispersal leads to high niche differentiation between genotypes, allowing greater coverage of the heterogeneous environment and a higher regional productivity. We argue that processes that operate over both ecological and evolutionary timescales should be jointly considered when attempting to understand the emergence of ecosystem-level properties such as diversity-function relationships.

The tragedy of the commons in microbial populations: insights from theoretical, comparative and experimental studies.

First principles of thermodynamics imply that metabolic pathways are faced with a trade-off between the rate and yield of ATP production. Simple evolutionary models argue that this trade-off generates a fundamental social conflict in microbial populations: average fitness in a population is highest if all individuals exploit common resources efficiently, but individual reproductive rate is maximized by consuming common resources at the highest possible rate, a scenario known as the tragedy of the commons. In this paper, I review studies that have addressed two key questions: What is the evidence that the rate-yield trade-off is an evolutionary constraint on metabolic pathways? And, if so, what determines evolutionary outcome of the conflicts generated by this trade-off? Comparative studies and microbial experiments provide evidence that the rate-yield trade-off is an evolutionary constraint that is driven by thermodynamic constraints that are common to all metabolic pathways and pathway-specific constraints that reflect the evolutionary history of populations. Microbial selection experiments show that the evolutionary consequences of this trade-off depend on both kin selection and biochemical constraints. In well-mixed populations with low relatedness, genotypes with rapid and efficient metabolism can coexist as a result of negative frequency-dependent selection generated by density-dependent biochemical costs of rapid metabolism. Kin selection can promote the maintenance of efficient metabolism in structured populations with high relatedness by ensuring that genotypes with efficient metabolic pathways gain an indirect fitness benefit from their competitive restraint. I conclude by suggesting avenues for future research and by discussing the broader implications of this work for microbial social evolution.

Constraints on microbial metabolism drive evolutionary diversification in homogeneous environments.

Understanding the evolution of microbial diversity is an important and current problem in evolutionary ecology. In this paper, we investigated the role of two established biochemical trade-offs in microbial diversification using a model that connects ecological and evolutionary processes with fundamental aspects of biochemistry. The trade-offs that we investigated are as follows:(1) a trade-off between the rate and affinity of substrate transport; and (2) a trade-off between the rate and yield of ATP production. Our model shows that these biochemical trade-offs can drive evolutionary diversification under the simplest possible ecological conditions: a homogeneous environment containing a single limiting resource. We argue that the results of a number of microbial selection experiments are consistent with the predictions of our model.

Pleiotropy and GAL pathway degeneration in yeast.

Traits that do not contribute to fitness are expected to be lost during the course of evolution, either as a result of selection or drift. The Leloir pathway of galactose metabolism (GAL) is an extensively studied metabolic pathway that degenerated on at least three independent occasions during the evolutionary diversification of yeasts, suggesting that the pathway is costly to maintain in environments that lack galactose. Here I test this hypothesis by competing GAL pathway deletion mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae against an isogenic strain with an intact GAL pathway under conditions where expression of the pathway is normally induced, repressed, or uninduced. These experiments do not support the hypothesis that pleiotropy drives GAL pathway degeneration, because mutations that knock out individual GAL genes do not tend to increase fitness in the absence of galactose. At a molecular level, this result can be explained by the fact that yeast uses inexpensive regulatory proteins to tightly regulate the expression of structural genes that are costly to express. I argue that these results have general relevance for our understanding of the fitness consequences of gene disruption in yeast.