A competence gene is normally expressed at low levels (gray triangles), but is activated (pink) by antibiotics.

CLAVERYS/AAAS

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an ever-evolving medical concern. Now, Marc Prudhomme, Laetitia Attaiech, Jean-Pierre Claverys, and colleagues (CNRS, Toulouse, France) report that antibiotics increase genetic exchange and the chance for adaptation in Streptococcus pneumoniae by activating its transformation pathway. The findings highlight the danger of inappropriate antibiotic use.

Transformation (the uptake and genomic integration of exogenous DNA) in S. pneumoniae can only occur when the bacteria are competent. Competence is a transitory state in bacteria. Although its regulation is rather well understood, the signals that trigger it remain elusive. Recent evidence suggests that in S. pnemoniae competence is a stress response to environmental change. Claverys's team therefore wondered whether antibiotic-induced stress might trigger competence.

Out of the dozen or so antibiotics that the team checked, six up-regulated the...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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