Fig. 5. Evolution of BAC-tolerance affects susceptibility to antibiotics.

Resistance (a), fitness with sub-inhibitory levels of antibiotics (b), and tolerance (c) against antibiotics from the classes of β-lactams (ampicillin; AMP), fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin; CIP), antimicrobial peptides (colistin; COL), and aminoglycosides (gentamicin; GEN) were assessed. a Evolved clones show increased MICs against AMP and CIP. Bars represent the maximal value of three biological replicates. b Growth-rate of the clones at sub-inhibitory levels of antibiotics. Bars represent the mean ± 95% C.I., n = 8 biological replicates. Significant differences to the wild-type are indicated by asterisks: ${}^{*}$p < 0.05; ${}^{**}$p < 0.01 (two-tailed unpaired t-test of growth rate). c Evolution of tolerance against BAC can increase survival, but also lethality upon antibiotic stress. Bars represent geometric mean ± 95% C.I., n = 4 biological replicates. Significant differences to the wild-type are indicated by asterisks: ${}^{*}$p < 0.05; ${}^{**}$p < 0.01 (two-tailed one-sample t-test of log-transformed survival fraction fold-change for difference to 0). Half circles on the x-axis indicate replicates with a surviving fraction below the detection limit. These data points were excluded from statistical testing, except for S1 COL. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Exact p-values are indicated above the asterisks.