Reassessing the Role of Type II Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Formation of Escherichia coli Type II Persister Cells.

ABSTRACT: Persistence is a reversible and low-frequency phenomenon allowing a subpopulation of a clonal bacterial population to survive antibiotic treatments. Upon removal of the antibiotic, persister cells resume growth and give rise to viable progeny. Type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems were assumed to play a key role in the formation of persister cells in Escherichia coli based on the observation that successive deletions of TA systems decreased persistence frequency. In addition, the model proposed that stochastic fluctuations of (p)ppGpp levels are the basis for triggering activation of TA systems. Cells in which TA systems are activated are thought to enter a dormancy state and therefore survive the antibiotic treatment. Using independently constructed strains and newly designed fluore

SUBMITTER: Goormaghtigh F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6016239 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature