| Description |
The identification and diversification of antibiotics gave us hope to eradicate infectious diseases. However, after about a century, not only is the hope dashed, we are effectively walking back to the pre-antibiotic era. This problem is threatening both human and economic health.
The problem lies in the under-appreciated plasticities in bacterial physiology. Bacteria respond to any intra- or extra-cellular perturbations both proximally and distally. While a proximal response is observed immediately, a distal reaction happens on an evolutionary timescale. This knowledge gap can be bridged by simulating evolution in a laboratory setup or adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE). We will discuss some examples of the significance of ALE in understanding bacterial adaptabilities with a focus on the latest heart-throb in the field of antimicrobial target discovery, i.e., bioenergetics.
|