ArticleBMC microbiology2006
Persisters: a distinct physiological state of E. coli.
Article in BMC microbiology, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 320 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
320 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seeing Bacterial Persistence Through Different Experimental Lenses: How Methodology Shapes Biological Interpretation.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Selective context, rather than persister cycling alone, drives resistance fixation in Escherichia coli.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Article
- Integrating multi-omics data with network modeling to characterizeJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Simultaneous measurements of translation rate and transcriptome uncovers linked regulation within an active bacterial cell population.Science advances · 2026Article
- The role of cytochrome oxidases in bacterial virulence.Infection and immunity · 2026Review
- RelBE-mediated stress responses reshape cellular morphology ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Glycerol-Driven Energy and Proteostasis Underpin Antibiotic Tolerance inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The genetic landscape of antibiotic sensitivity inScience advances · 2026Article
- A Novel Small Molecule Accelerates Early Persister Regrowth and Potentiates Antibiotic Killing via MdtL-DcrB.Microbial biotechnology · 2026Article
- Identification of a novel gene inAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Differentiation between regulated and disrupted growth arrests allows tailoring of effective treatments for antibiotic persistence.Science advances · 2026Article
- Molecular Basis of Persister Awakening and Lag-Phase Recovery inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Persister cells form based on low ribosome content inSustainable microbiology · 2026Article
- Protein aggregation as a bistable switch in bacterial cell fate: from adaptive dormancy to cytotoxic death.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- An integrative multi-omics approach points to membrane composition as a key factor in E. coli persistence.PloS one · 2026Article
- Identification of a novel gene associated with group B Streptococcus persister cell formation and biofilm production.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Bistability in type I toxin-antitoxin systems may lead to stress-induced persister formation.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025Article
- Friend or foe: the gut microbiota as a modulator of disease trajectory in trauma, surgery, and critical illness.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- MazF endoribonuclease promotes resolution of transcription-replication conflicts at ribosomal RNA genes in Escherichia coli.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
260 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBacterial populations contain persisters, phenotypic variants that constitute approximately 1% of cells in stationary phase and biofilm cultures. Multidrug tolerance of persisters is largely responsible for the inability of antibiotics to completely eradicate infections. Recent progress in understanding persisters is encouraging, but the main obstacle in understanding their nature was our inability to isolate these elusive cells from a wild-type population since their discovery in 1944.
resultsWe hypothesized that persisters are dormant cells with a low level of translation, and used this to physically sort dim E. coli cells which do not contain sufficient amounts of unstable GFP expressed from a promoter whose activity depends on the growth rate. The dim cells were tolerant to antibiotics and exhibited a gene expression profile distinctly different from those observed for cells in exponential or stationary phases. Genes coding for toxin-antitoxin module proteins were expressed in persisters and are likely contributors to this condition.
conclusionWe report a method for persister isolation and conclude that these cells represent a distinct state of bacterial physiology.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.