Dual-Reporter Mycobacteriophages (Φ2DRMs) Reveal Preexisting Mycobacterium tuberculosis Persistent Cells in Human Sputum.

ABSTRACT: Persisters are the minor subpopulation of bacterial cells that lack alleles conferring resistance to a specific bactericidal antibiotic but can survive otherwise lethal concentrations of that antibiotic. In infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, such persisters underlie the need for long-term antibiotic therapy and contribute to treatment failure in tuberculosis cases. Here, we demonstrate the value of dual-reporter mycobacteriophages (Φ2DRMs) for characterizing M. tuberculosis persisters. The addition of isoniazid (INH) to exponentially growing M. tuberculosis cells consistently resulted in a 2- to 3-log decrease in CFU within 4 days, and the remaining ≤1% of cells, which survived despite being INH sensitive, were INH-tolerant persisters with a distinct transcriptional profile. We fu

SUBMITTER: Jain P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5080378 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature