Bacterial pathogen evolution: breaking news

Abstract

The immense social and economic impact of bacterial pathogens, from drug-resistant infections in hospitals to the devastation of agricultural resources, has resulted in major investment to understand the causes and consequences of pathogen evolution. Recent genome sequencing projects have provided insight into the evolution of bacterial genome structures; revealing the impact of mobile DNA on genome restructuring and pathogenicity. Sequencing of multiple genomes of related strains has enabled the delineation of pathogen evolution and facilitated the tracking of bacterial pathogens globally. Other recent theoretical and empirical studies have shown that pathogen evolution is significantly influenced by ecological factors, such as the distribution of hosts within the environment and the effects of co-infection. We suggest that the time is ripe for experimentalists to use genomics in conjunction with evolutionary ecology experiments to further understanding of how bacterial pathogens evolve.