Clinical Mutations That Partially Activate the Stringent Response Confer Multidrug Tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic tolerance is an underappreciated antibiotic escape strategy that is associated with recurrent and relapsing infections, as well as acting as a precursor to resistance. Tolerance describes the ability of a bacterial population to survive transient exposure to an otherwise lethal concentration of antibiotic without exhibiting an elevated MIC. It is detected in time-kill assays as a lower rate of killing than a susceptible strain and can be quantified by the metric minimum duration for killing (MDK). The molecular mechanisms behind tolerance are varied, but activation of the stringent response (SR) via gene knockouts and/or chemical induction has long been associated with tolerance. More recently, two Gram-positive clinical isolates from persistent bacteremias were found to bear mu

SUBMITTER: Bryson D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7038295 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature