Use of Mutator Strains for Characterization of Novel Antimicrobial Agents

A recent minireview by Martinez and Baquero (8) provides a useful discussion on various aspects of mutational resistance to antibiotics in bacteria. As noted by these authors, bacteria displaying strong mutator (hypermutator) phenotypes exhibit significantly increased rates of mutation conferring antibiotic resistance (up to 10,000-fold that of the wild type). We would like to further highlight the value of such strains for basic antimicrobial drug discovery research, an aspect that was only partially addressed in the minireview.