Microbial competition and costs of antibiotic resistance in fluctuating environments

Microbial communities occupy dynamic environments, where fluctuations in environmental factors (e.g. pH, temperature, antimicrobials) and nutrients can drive oscillations in population abundances through time. The pulsed nature of most antibiotic dosing regimes likely acts as a particularly potent driver of variability. Nevertheless, the implications of different temporal patterns of antibiotic delivery on the interaction between within-host competition and the evolution of antibiotic resistance have thus far been largely ignored.

This experimental evolution project will explore how the timing of antibiotic and nutrient pulses affects the evolution of resistance. The summer research student will conduct multi-day competition experiments to investigate the influence of synchronous and asynchronous antibiotic and resources pulses on the evolution of resistance

Supervisor: Dr Andrew Letten