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SUMMARY:Rapid microbial evolution: From the lab to the clinic and back aga
 in. - Professor Mike Brockhurst\, Department of Biology\, University of Yo
 rk 
DTSTART:20150305T143000Z
DTEND:20150305T153000Z
UID:TALK56517@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Caroline Newnham
DESCRIPTION:Experimental evolution has provided insight into the pattern a
 nd process of microbial evolution and allowed causative tests of longstand
 ing evolutionary theories. I will discuss work studying the evolution of b
 acteria-plasmid and bacteria-phage interactions. These experiments show th
 e importance of species interactions as a driver of evolution\, and also t
 he importance of rapid compensatory evolution for horizontal gene transfer
 . Increasingly\, though\, it is clear that rapid microbial evolution is re
 levant beyond the lab and can have important applied consequences. This is
  especially the case for pathogenic microbes\, where evolutionary change c
 ontributes to disease progression and treatment failure. I will discuss a 
 longstanding collaboration with medical microbiologists studying evolution
  of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) lung infections. Our fi
 ndings demonstrate high levels of evolved diversity in clinically importan
 t bacterial traits like toxin production and antibiotic resistance\, and m
 oreover that this diversity is very dynamic over time and associated with 
 changes in patient health. Using population genomics we have recently disc
 overed a role for patient-to-patient transmission in generating this diver
 sity. An important next step in understanding the role for rapid pathogen 
 evolution in the clinic is to unravel the complex causes of selection acti
 ng in infection.
LOCATION:Part II Room\, Department of Genetics
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