Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: Increasing concerns about the rising rates of antibiotic therapy failure and advances in single-cell analyses have inspired a surge of research into antibiotic persistence. Bacterial persister cells represent a subpopulation of cells that can survive intensive antibiotic treatment without being resistant. Several approaches have emerged to define and measure persistence, and it is now time to agree on the basic definition of persistence and its relation to the other mechanisms by which bacteria survive exposure to bactericidal antibiotic treatments, such as antibiotic resistance, heteroresistance or tolerance. In this Consensus Statement, we provide definitions of persistence phenomena, distinguish between triggered and spontaneous persistence and provide a guide to measuring persistence. Antibiotic persistence is not only an interesting example of non-genetic single-cell heterogeneity, it may also have a role in the failure of antibiotic treatments. Therefore, it is our hope that the guidelines outlined in this article will pave the way for better characterization of antibiotic persistence and for understanding its relevance to clinical outcomes.
Source: Nature Reviews Microbiology
Authors: Nathalie Q. Balaban, Sophie Helaine, Kim Lewis, Martin Ackermann, Bree Aldridge, Dan I. Andersson, Mark P. Brynildsen, Dirk Bumann, Andrew Camilli, James J. Collins, Christoph Dehio, Sarah Fortune, Jean-Marc Ghigo, Wolf-Dietrich Hardt, Alexander Harms, Matthias Heinemann, Deborah T. Hung, Urs Jenal, Bruce R. Levin, Jan Michiels, Gisela Storz, Man-Wah Tan, Tanel Tenson, Laurence Van Melderen, Annelies Zinkernagel
Institutions: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Imperial College London, Northeastern University, ETH Zurich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Tufts University, Uppsala University, Princeton University, University of Basel, Broad Institute, Harvard University, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institut Pasteur, Institute of Microbiology, University of Groningen, Emory University, VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, KU Leuven, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Genentech, University of Tartu, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Zurich, University Hospital Zurich
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2940117744