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Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance genes

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 2, pages 430–435 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is thought to evolve rapidly in response to antibiotic use. At present, we lack effective tools to assess how rapidly existing resistance genes are likely to evolve to yield resistance to newly introduced drugs. To address this problem, a method has been developed for in vitro evolution experiments to help predict how long it will take antibiotic resistance to arise — potentially allowing informed decisions about usage to be made.

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Figure 1: The Barlow–Hall method of in vitro evolution to predict in vivo evolution.
Figure 2: The GeneHunter method for identifying and isolating cryptic antibiotic-resistance genes.

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Acknowledgements

The author's studies were supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Author's note

The computer program 'InVitro Evolution Simulator' is available free of charge on e-mail request to the author.

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  1. Barry G. Hall

    Present address: , 218 Chuckanut Point Road, Bellingham, 98229, Washington, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, University of Rochester, USA

    Barry G. Hall

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  1. Barry G. Hall
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Hall, B. Predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance genes. Nat Rev Microbiol 2, 430–435 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro888

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