Antithetic population response to antibiotics in a polybacterial community

Abstract

Much is known about the effects of antibiotics on isolated bacterial species, but their influence on polybacterial communities is less understood. Here, we study the joint response of a mixed community of nonresistant <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> and <i>Escherichia coli</i> bacteria to moderate concentrations of the β-lactam antibiotic ampicillin. We show that when the two organisms coexist, their population response to the antibiotic is opposite to that in isolation: Whereas in monoculture <i>B. subtilis</i> is tolerant and <i>E. coli</i> is sensitive to ampicillin, in coculture it is <i>E. coli</i> who can proliferate in the presence of the antibiotic, while <i>B. subtilis</i> cannot. This antithetic behavior is predicted by a mathematical model constrained only by the responses of the two species in isolation. Our results thus show that the collective response of mixed bacterial ecosystems to antibiotics can run counter to what single-species potency studies tell us about their efficacy.