Bacterial persisters are a stochastically formed subpopulation of low-energy cells
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Somenath Bakshi; Sylvie Manuse; Wei-Sheng Sun; Johan Paulsson; Kim Lewis; Hirotada Mori; Yue Shan; Silvia J. Cañas-Duarte
- Source
- PLoS Biology, Vol 19, Iss 4, p e3001194 (2021)
PLoS Biology
- Subject
- Metabolic Processes
0301 basic medicine
Confocal Microscopy
Antibiotics
medicine.disease_cause
Biochemistry
Cell Fusion
Spectrum Analysis Techniques
Low energy
Short Reports
Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
Ampicillin
Medicine and Health Sciences
Cell Cycle and Cell Division
Biology (General)
chemistry.chemical_classification
Microscopy
Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting
Cell fusion
Antimicrobials
General Neuroscience
Drugs
Software Engineering
Light Microscopy
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cell biology
Chemistry
Cell Processes
Spectrophotometry
Physical Sciences
Arsenates
Engineering and Technology
Cytophotometry
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
medicine.drug
Cell Physiology
Computer and Information Sciences
medicine.drug_class
QH301-705.5
Citric Acid Cycle
030106 microbiology
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Biology
Research and Analysis Methods
Bacterial Physiological Phenomena
Microbiology
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Computer Software
03 medical and health sciences
In vivo
Microbial Control
Escherichia coli
medicine
Pharmacology
Microbial Viability
Bacteria
Organisms, Genetically Modified
General Immunology and Microbiology
Chemical Compounds
Biology and Life Sciences
Cell Biology
Citric acid cycle
Metabolism
030104 developmental biology
Enzyme
chemistry
Energy Metabolism
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1545-7885
1544-9173
Persisters represent a small subpopulation of non- or slow-growing bacterial cells that are tolerant to killing by antibiotics. Despite their prominent role in the recalcitrance of chronic infections to antibiotic therapy, the mechanism of their formation has remained elusive. We show that sorted cells of Escherichia coli with low levels of energy-generating enzymes are better able to survive antibiotic killing. Using microfluidics time-lapse microscopy and a fluorescent reporter for in vivo ATP measurements, we find that a subpopulation of cells with a low level of ATP survives killing by ampicillin. We propose that these low ATP cells are formed stochastically as a result of fluctuations in the abundance of energy-generating components. These findings point to a general “low energy” mechanism of persister formation.
Persisters represent a small subpopulation of non- or slow-growing bacterial cells that are tolerant to killing by antibiotics, but the mechanism of their formation has remained elusive. This study of E. coli shows that stochastic heterogeneity in levels of energy-generating enzymes results in a subpopulation of cells with low ATP that are tolerant to antibiotics.