Bacterial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics is on the rise, but laboratory evolution studies do not always recapitulate clinical resistance levels. Here, the authors select Escherichia coli mutants with varying degrees of beta-lactam resistance, showing that combinations of distinct genetic mutations, accessible at large population sizes, can drive high-level resistance independently of beta-lactamases.
- Rotem Gross
- Idan Yelin
- Roy Kishony
