Evolution of Drug Resistance in Bacteria

Resistance to antibiotics is an important and timely problem of contemporary medicine. Rapid evolution of resistant bacteria calls for new preventive measures to slow down this process, and a longer-term progress cannot be achieved without a good understanding of the mechanisms through which drug resistance is acquired and spreads in microbial populations. Here, we discuss recent experimental and theoretical advances in our knowledge how the dynamics of microbial populations affects the evolution of antibiotic resistance. We focus on the role of spatial and temporal drug gradients and show that in certain situations bacteria can evolve de novo resistance within hours. We identify factors that lead to such rapid onset of resistance and discuss their relevance for bacterial infections.