Eco-evolutionary dynamics and environmental detoxification jointly shape bacterial community response to antibiotic perturbation.

Prior evolution of ampicillin resistance in a 23-species bacterial community strongly buffers compositional change during antibiotic pulses, with resistance and detoxification playing key roles.

• Why it matters: Understanding how ecological, evolutionary, and environmental processes jointly influence microbial responses to antibiotics is crucial for managing antibiotic resistance and community resilience.
• What they did: The study used a 23-species bacterial community subjected to sequential ampicillin pulses, manipulating pre-pulse exposure and experimentally evolving species for increased resistance to examine priming effects.
• The result: Resistance evolution and accelerated detoxification by a dominant degrader reduced antibiotic exposure and community change but did not improve recovery, highlighting a trade-off between resistance and diversity restoration.