Ranking of persister genes in the same Escherichia coli genetic background demonstrates varying importance of individual persister genes in tolerance to different antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Despite the identification of many genes and pathways involved in the persistence phenomenon of bacteria, the relative importance of these genes in a single organism remains unclear. Here, using Escherichia coli as a model, we generated mutants of 21 known candidate persister genes and compared the relative importance of these mutants in persistence to various antibiotics (ampicillin, gentamicin, norfloxacin, and trimethoprim) at different times. We found that oxyR, dnaK, sucB, relA, rpoS, clpB, mqsR, and recA were prominent persister genes involved in persistence to multiple antibiotics. These genes map to the following pathways: antioxidative defense pathway (oxyR), global regulators (dnaK, clpB, and rpoS), energy production (sucB), stringent response (relA), toxin-antitoxin (TA) module

SUBMITTER: Wu N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4588708 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature