New work on resistance mechanisms is coming out all the time

> Organisms need genetic mechanisms to rapidly adapt to changing, stressful environments. Having a high mutation frequency would have a drag on a population due to the deleterious nature of mutations, but having a sub-population with high mutation rate due to the presence of mutator genes seems to be nature’s solution. Far more is known about mutator genes in bacteria than in higher organisms.

> An important feature of the mutator effect is that it is transient and is followed by reversion to the stable wild type, and can be counter-selected following outcrossing with the wild type. Similarly, “remembered” epigenetic stress- induced mutator effects were shown to last for a few generations. In summary, mutator genes could be playing an important role in the evolution of resistance

Jonathan Gressel and Avraham A. Levy. 2010. in: Stress, Mutators, Mutations and Stress Resistance. Springer Netherlands

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