Stationary phase persister formation in Escherichia coli can be suppressed by piperacillin and PBP3 inhibition.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Persisters are rare phenotypic variants within a bacterial population that are capable of tolerating lethal antibiotic concentrations. Passage through stationary phase is associated with the formation of persisters (type I), and a major physiological response of Escherichia coli during stationary phase is cell wall restructuring. Given the concurrence of these processes, we sought to assess whether perturbation to cell wall synthesis during stationary phase impacts type I persister formation.

Results

We tested a panel of cell wall inhibitors and found that piperacillin, which primarily targets penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3 encoded by ftsI), resulted in a significant reduction in both β-lactam (ampicillin, carbenicillin) and fluoroquinolone (ofloxacin, ciprofl

SUBMITTER: Aedo SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6591824 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature