Evolution of Bacterial Persistence to Antibiotics during a 50,000-Generation Experiment in an Antibiotic-Free Environment.

ABSTRACT: Failure of antibiotic therapies causes > 700,000 deaths yearly and involves both bacterial resistance and persistence. Persistence results in the relapse of infections by producing a tiny fraction of pathogen survivors that stay dormant during antibiotic exposure. From an evolutionary perspective, persistence is either a 'bet-hedging strategy' that helps to cope with stochastically changing environments or an unavoidable minimal rate of 'cellular errors' that lock the cells in a low activity state. Here, we analyzed the evolution of persistence over 50,000 bacterial generations in a stable environment by improving a published method that estimates the number of persister cells based on the growth of the reviving population. Our results challenged our understanding of the factors underly

SUBMITTER: Mathe-Hubert H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9028194 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature