The Mutant Selection Window (MSW) claims that selection for resistance begins only after the minimum inhibitory concentration, but there is no rationale behind it and no data to support it. Here we exposed *E. coli* to different antibiotic concentrations to measure which leads to fastest adaptation, and underpin the genetic mechanism.
Tradeoffs between life history traits impact diverse biological phenomena, including the maintenance of biodiversity. We sought to study two canonical tradeoffs in a model host-parasite system consisting of bacteriophage lambda and _Escherichia …
Fisher suggested advantageous genes would spread through populations as a wave so we sought genetic waves in evolving populations, as follows. By fusing a fluorescent marker to a drug efflux protein (AcrB) whose expression provides _Escherichia coli_ …
For decades it was hypothesised that the growth rate of populations and their size engage in a trade-off, but the data was always inconclusive. Using bacteria, we set off to underpin a physical mechanism for this trade-off, and then explain why it is not always found in the data.
Mathematically speaking, it is self-evident that the optimal control of complex, dynamical systems with many interacting components cannot be achieved with ‘non-responsive’ control strategies that are constant through time. Although there are notable …