Figure 1.
Generators of phenotypic diversity illustrated as a game of chance.
Evolution is a multifactorial process that depends on numerous complex factors, including routes to diversity that can be deleterious, neutral, or advantageous depending on the environment. Here we depict these evolutionary trajectories using the analogy of a roulette wheel in which one possible path yields a winner that develops a new trait that allows the microorganism to survive in novel conditions, such as a host treated with antimicrobial agents. However, as in roulette, the odds are against the gambler and the other routes and outcomes are deleterious.