Weak Mutators Can Drive the Evolution of Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Escherichia coli

Weak mutators are common among clinical isolates of Escherichia coli. We show that the relative mutation rate and the “evolvability of fluoroquinolone resistance” are related by a power law slope of 1.2 over 3 orders of magnitude. Thus, even weak mutators can drive the evolution of fluoroquinolone resistance under selection pressure