A multihost bacterial pathogen overcomes continuous population bottlenecks to adapt to new host species
While many bacterial pathogens are restricted to single host species, some have the capacity to undergo host switches, leading to the emergence of new clones that are a threat tohuman and animal health. However, the bacterial traits that underpin a multihost ecology are not well understood. Follow...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
AAAS (American Asociation for the Advancement of Science)
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/6473 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/11/eaax0063 |
| Summary: | While many bacterial pathogens are restricted to single host species, some have the capacity to undergo host switches,
leading to the emergence of new clones that are a threat tohuman and animal health. However, the bacterial traits that
underpin a multihost ecology are not well understood. Following transmission to a new host, bacterial populations are
influenced by powerful forces such as genetic drift that reduce the fixation rate of beneficial mutations, limiting the
capacity for host adaptation. Here, we implement a novel experimental model of bacterial host switching to investigate
the ability of themultihost pathogen Staphylococcus aureus to adapt to new species under continuous population
bottlenecks. We demonstrate that beneficial mutations accumulated during infection can overcome genetic drift and
sweep through the population, leading to host adaptation. Our findings highlight the remarkable capacity of some
bacteria to adapt to distinct host niches in the face of powerful antagonistic population forces. |
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