Are envelope stress responses essential for persistence to β-lactams in Escherichia coli?

ABSTRACT: Bacterial persistence to antibiotics defines the ability of small sub-populations of sensitive cells within an isogenic population to survive high doses of bactericidal antibiotics. Here, we investigated the importance of the five main envelope stress responses (ESRs) of Escherichia coli in persistence to five bactericidal β-lactam antibiotics by combining classical time-kill curve experiments and single-cell analysis using time-lapse microscopy. We showed that the survival frequency of mutants for the Bae, Cpx, Psp, and Rcs systems treated with different β-lactams is comparable to that of the wild-type strain, indicating that these ESRs do not play a direct role in persistence to β-lactams. Since the σ^E-encoding gene is essential, we could not directly test its role. Usi

SUBMITTER: Rousseau CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10583663 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature