Fluctuation analysis of mutations to nalidixic acid resistance in Escherichia coli.
Open accessAbstract
Mutations of Escherichia coli from sensitivity to nalidixic acid resistance were studied by fluctuation analysis. The mutant distributions in replicate cultures were not significantly affected either by the age of the carbon-starved preculture used for inocula or by the inoculum size. The data from 23 fluctuation tests (48 cultures each) were pooled. The mean number of mutations per culture was estimated to be 0.71 from the fraction of cultures without mutants or 0.74 and 0.77 by maximum-likelihood estimation based on the two models under consideration. When the pooled data were compared with the theoretical expectations, the fits were unsatisfactory (P < 0.005). The lack of fit was caused mainly by too high a frequency of cultures with between 17 and 32 mutants and too high a frequency of cultures with more than 128 mutants. Possible reasons for the lack of fit and its implications with respect to estimation of mutation rates from fluctuation tests are discussed.
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An experimentalist is rarely able to count 500 mutant colonies per culture, let alone 5000 mutant colonies per culture.
“An experimentalist is rarely able to count 500 mutant colonies per culture (Boe et al. 1994), let alone 5000 mutant colonies per culture.”
From rSalvador: An R Package for the Fluctuation Experiment (2017) · cites this paper as Boe et al. 1994
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- Authors
- Boe, L., Tolker-Nielsen, T., Eegholm, K. M., Spliid, H., & Vrang, A.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- Department of Microbiology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby.
- Venue
- Journal of Bacteriology
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology
- Published
- 1994-05
- Volume
- 176
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2781-2787
- ISSN
- 0021-9193 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-5530
- PMC
- PMC205430
- OpenAlex
- W1600786531
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Journal of Bacteriology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Keywords
- nalidixic acid resistance, Escherichia coli, mutation rate estimation, fluctuation analysis, carbon starvation, inoculum size, maximum likelihood estimation, antibiotic resistance mutations
- MeSH terms
- Drug Resistance, Microbial, Energy Metabolism, Escherichia coli, Mutagens, Nalidixic Acid, Models, Statistical, Chi-Square Distribution, Likelihood Functions, Mutagenesis
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