Suppression of antibiotic resistance evolution by single-gene deletion

Abstract

Antibiotic treatment generally results in the selection of resistant bacterial strains, and the dynamics of resistance evolution is dependent on complex interactions between cellular components. To better characterize the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and evaluate its dependence on gene regulatory networks, we performed systematic laboratory evolution of Escherichia coli strains with single-gene deletions of 173 transcription factors under three different antibiotics. This resulted in the identification of several genes whose deletion significantly suppressed resistance evolution, including arcA and gutM. Analysis of double-gene deletion strains suggested that the suppression of resistance evolution caused by arcA and gutM deletion was not caused by epistatic interactions with mutations known to confer drug resistance. These results provide a methodological basis for combinatorial drug treatments that may help to suppress the emergence of resistant pathogens by inhibiting resistance evolution.