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SUMMARY:Bacterial chemotaxis in antibiotic gradients. Yes they can! - Nuno
  Miguel Oliveira (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20171026T120000Z
DTEND:20171026T130000Z
UID:TALK94144@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julius Bier Kirkegaard
DESCRIPTION:Antibiotic resistance poses a major threat to public health. W
 hile the vast majority of antibiotic research focuses on homogeneous cultu
 res\, bacteria commonly live in surface-attached communities where they ar
 e exposed to steep chemical gradients. In this biolunch talk I will show y
 ou the behavior of bacteria in spatial gradients of antibiotics by trackin
 g thousands of individual cells as they colonize the surface in developing
  biofilms. Surprisingly\, these experiments reveal that cells use pili-bas
 ed (‘twitching’) motility to move towards higher concentrations of ant
 ibiotics. While antibiotic gradients trigger sharp variations in cell dens
 ity across the surface\, our data suggest that chemotaxis is a direct resp
 onse to antibiotics and not simply driven by secondary de novo gradients i
 n nutrients or secreted compounds. Moreover\, within 20 hours\, migrating 
 cells reach and withstand antibiotic concentrations one thousand times hig
 her than expected from their MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration). We fi
 nd no evidence for genetic resistance and instead physiological resistance
  (tolerance) appears key for this striking phenotype. I will finish by dis
 cussing how we can interpret these unexpected results using microbial ecol
 ogy and evolution.
LOCATION:MR11\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Camb
 ridge
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