Forecasting cell fate during antibiotic exposure using stochastic gene expression.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic killing does not occur at a single, precise time for all cells within a population. Variability in time to death can be caused by stochastic expression of genes, resulting in differences in endogenous stress-resistance levels between individual cells in a population. Here we investigate whether single-cell differences in gene expression prior to antibiotic exposure are related to cell survival times after antibiotic exposure for a range of genes of diverse function. We quantified the time to death of single cells under antibiotic exposure in combination with expression of reporters. For some reporters, including genes involved in stress response and cellular processes like metabolism, the time to cell death had a strong relationship with the initial expression level of the genes

SUBMITTER: Rossi NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6624276 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature