The Fast Track to Antibiotic Resistance
Technion researchers uncover a hidden mechanism that enables bacteria to rapidly develop antibiotic resistance; disrupting this mechanism could improve the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments
The dangers of antibiotic overuse have become increasingly clear in recent decades. Excessive use accelerates the evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, raising the alarming prospect of infections that no longer respond to existing drugs and pose a serious threat to public health.
Against this backdrop, Dr. Idan Yelin and Prof. Roy Kishony of the Technion's Faculty of Biology have published a study in Nature Microbiology revealing a previously unknown rapid pathway that bacteria use to develop antibiotic resistance.
The newly identified mechanism is based on an "inflation" in the number of copies of specific genes that provide bacteria with a survival advantage, including resistance to antibiotics. The discovery was made using AmpliFinder, a new computational tool developed by the researchers, which they used to analyze more than 10,000 laboratory-evolved bacterial samples.
The mechanism is based on gene amplification, a well-known evolutionary process previously linked to antibiotic resistance. The study also reveals a dramatic new form of non-canonical gene amplification: genes are duplicated through a single DNA segment that connects distant regions of the genome, making the process extremely difficult to detect.
"When we began our research, we expected to identify mainly the classical amplification mechanism described in textbooks, a repetitive structure of a gene flanked by two copies of the same mobile genetic element. We assumed that the non-canonical structures, in which the mobile genetic elements are missing at either one or both ends of the repetitive structure, would be little more than a footnote. Instead, that footnote turned out to be the main story,” said Dr. Yelin. “We discovered that these non-canonical amplifications are extremely common in bacteria and are more efficient at gene amplification, suggesting that they provide bacteria with a faster route to antibiotic resistance."
The researchers found that this mechanism generates rapid, targeted DNA amplifications, producing dozens of copies of resistance-conferring genes within the bacterium. As a result, bacteria can respond to antibiotic treatment far more quickly and effectively than can be explained by previously known amplification mechanisms.
The study was conducted in two bacterial species, Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii . Using the antibiotic chloramphenicol, the researchers demonstrated that amplification of a DNA segment containing the mdfA gene not only increased the bacteria's existing resistance but also enabled them to adapt to progressively higher concentrations of the antibiotic. This finding indicates that the mechanism drives accelerated evolution, significantly enhancing bacterial survival. The researchers also found that this mechanism is far more common than previously recognized.
The team believes that identifying this mechanism could pave the way for new therapies designed to disrupt it, limiting bacteria's ability to develop antibiotic resistance and thereby enhancing the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment.
The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and the European Union's Horizon Europe program.
Photos:
Dr. Idan Yelin
Prof. Roy Kishony
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-026-02415-2
Nature Microbiology
Experimental study
Cells
Non-canonical gene amplifications facilitate adaptive evolution in bacteria
6-Jul-2026