Reactive oxygen species accelerate de novo acquisition of antibiotic resistance in E. coli

• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108373
• Publication Date: 2023-11-01T01:11:27Z
• Authors: Wenxi Qi; Martijs J. Jonker; Wim de Leeuw; Stanley Brul; Benno H. ter Kuile
• Keywords: Scavenger; Hormesis

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced as a secondary effect of bactericidal antibiotics are hypothesized to play role in killing bacteria. If correct, ROS may development de novo resistance. Here we report that single-gene knockout strains with reduced scavenging exhibited enhanced accumulation and more rapid acquisition resistance when exposed sublethal levels antibiotics. Consistent this observation, the scavenger thiourea medium decelerated development. Thiourea downregulated transcriptional level error-prone DNA polymerase glycosylase MutM, which counters incorporation 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-HOdG) genome. The 8-HOdG significantly increased following incubation but decreased after treatment thiourea. These observations suggest E. coli stimulate resistance, providing mechanistic basis for hormetic responses induced by