ArticleScience (New York, N.Y.)2012
Asymmetry and aging of mycobacterial cells lead to variable growth and antibiotic susceptibility.
Article in Science (New York, N.Y.), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 266 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
266 citing papers in PubMed.
- MakingCell insight · 2026Review
- The polar landscape of bacterial pathogens and predators.Current opinion in microbiology · 2026Review
- Structure, assembly, and mechanism of the MmpL family of transporters.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2026Review
- Metabolic flexibility and an unusual route for peptidoglycan muramic acid recycling in mycobacteria.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- An adenylyl cyclase switch reroutes carbon from growth to virulence lipids inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Polar growth factor PgfA regulates polar peptidoglycan synthesis as well as mycolate synthesis inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Direct bacterial transcript visualization illuminates spatiotemporal environmental adaptation ofScience advances · 2026Article
- Multipronged Cell Wall-Targeting Converts Ineffective Antibiotics into a Potent Regimen against Mycobacterium abscessus.ACS infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Heterogeneity in microbial antibiotic responses: genetic basis and within-host evolution.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2026Review
- Mtb-Timer: a fluorescent reporter to visualizemSystems · 2026Article
- FtsK with a unique N-terminal extension is involved in coordinating the final steps of chromosome segregation with asymmetric division in mycobacterial cells.Journal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Growth arrest of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in acidic environments enhances their survival of antibiotic treatment.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- A new Persister Enrichment Model inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Engineering non-exponential proliferation in Escherichia coli using functionalized protein aggregates.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Measuring Membrane Fluidity in Live Mycobacteria Reveals Subcellular Lateral Variation And Pole-Selective Responses to Mycomembrane Perturbation.ACS infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A Division-Associated Envelope Protein, MAB_2363, Drives Intrinsic Resistance and Virulence inMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Article
- Bioenergetic reprogramming of macrophages reduces drug tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Nature communications · 2025Article
206 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cells use both deterministic and stochastic mechanisms to generate cell-to-cell heterogeneity, which enables the population to better withstand environmental stress. Here we show that, within a clonal population of mycobacteria, there is deterministic heterogeneity in elongation rate that arises because mycobacteria grow in an unusual, unipolar fashion. Division of the asymmetrically growing mother cell gives rise to daughter cells that differ in elongation rate and size. Because the mycobacterial cell division cycle is governed by time, not cell size, rapidly elongating cells do not divide more frequently than slowly elongating cells. The physiologically distinct subpopulations of cells that arise through asymmetric growth and division are differentially susceptible to clinically important classes of antibiotics.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.