From friend to foe: How benign bacteria evolve to virulent pathogens
Thursday, December 12, 2013 - 20:20
in Biology & Nature
Macrophage (in red) infected with fluorescent labelled E. coli (in yellow or blue). Bacteria can evolve rapidly to adapt to environmental change. Bacteria can evolve rapidly to adapt to environmental change. When the "environment" is the immune response of an infected host, this evolution can turn harmless bacteria into life-threatening pathogens. A study published on December 12 in PLOS Pathogens provides insight into how this happens.