The Diverse Phenotypic and Mutational Landscape Induced by Fluoroquinolone Treatment

We conducted whole genome sequencing on eight evolved E. coli strains (S1–S8) and the parental wild-type (WT) strain to identify mutations arising from ofloxacin treatments. These strains (S1-S8), generated through fluoroquinolone-mediated adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE), exhibited varying levels of tolerance and resistance. The ALE experiment involved intermittent antibiotic treatments of eight independent cultures over 22 days. The untreated WT strain served as a baseline to pinpoint mutations in the evolved strains.