Existence of log-phase Escherichia coli persisters and lasting memory of a starvation pulse.

ABSTRACT: The vast majority of a bacterial population is killed when treated with a lethal concentration of antibiotics. The time scale of this killing is often comparable with the bacterial generation time before the addition of antibiotics. Yet, a small subpopulation typically survives for an extended period. However, the long-term killing dynamics of bacterial cells has not been fully quantified even in well-controlled laboratory conditions. We constructed a week-long killing assay and followed the survival fraction of Escherichia coli K12 exposed to a high concentration of ciprofloxacin. We found that long-term survivors were formed during exponential growth, with some cells surviving at least 7 d. The long-term dynamics contained at least three time scales, which greatly enhances predictions of

SUBMITTER: Svenningsen MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8605324 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature