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Res Sq
ResearchSquare
Research Square
American Journal Experts

10.21203/rs.3.rs-4356333/v1
10.21203/rs.3.rs-4356333
preprint
1
Article
Microfluidic Ecology Unravels the Genetic and Ecological Drivers of T4r Bacteriophage Resistance in E. coli: Insights into Biofilm-Mediated Evolution
Austin Robert https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4269-6793

Nagy Krisztina
Valappil Sarshad
Phan Trung
Li Shengkai
Dér László
Morris Ryan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4764-3639

Bos Julia
Winslow Sophia
Galajda Peter
Rákhely Gábor
24 5 2024
rs.3.rs-4356333https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4356333/v1
nihpp-rs4356333v1.pdf
Abstract

We use a microfluidic ecology which generates non-uniform phage concentration gradients and micro-ecological niches to reveal the importance of time, spatial population structure and collective population dynamics in the {\em de novo} evolution of T4r bacteriophage resistant motile {\em E. coli}. An insensitive bacterial population against T4r phage occurs within 20 hours in small interconnected population niches created by a gradient of phage virions, driven by evolution in transient biofilm patches. Sequencing of the resistant bacteria reveals mutations at the receptor site of bacteriophage T4r as expected but also in genes associated with biofilm formation and surface adhesion, supporting the hypothesis that evolution within transient biofilms drives {\em de novo} phage resistance.
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