Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23629720›Full record

ArticleAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy2013

Dormancy is not necessary or sufficient for bacterial persistence.

Mehmet A Orman, Mark P Brynildsen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 158 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
158citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

158 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Glycerol-Driven Energy and Proteostasis Underpin Antibiotic Tolerance inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Molecular Basis of Persister Awakening and Lag-Phase Recovery inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

98 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Mehmet A OrmanDepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Mark P Brynildsen

Funding

Aminoglycoside-Enabled Elucidation of Persister MetabolismR21AI105342 · NIAID · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI BRYNILDSEN, MARK P · 2013 to 2014
$417k
NIAID NIH HHS R21 AI105342NIAID NIH HHS R21AI105342
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The antibiotic tolerances of bacterial persisters have been attributed to transient dormancy. While persisters have been observed to be growth inhibited prior to antibiotic exposure, we sought to determine whether such a trait was essential to the phenotype. Furthermore, we sought to provide direct experimental evidence of the persister metabolic state so as to determine whether the common assumption of metabolic inactivity was valid. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), a fluorescent indicator of cell division, a fluorescent measure of metabolic activity, and persistence assays, we found that bacteria that are rapidly growing prior to antibiotic exposure can give rise to persisters and that a lack of replication or low metabolic activity prior to antibiotic treatment simply increases the likelihood that a cell is a persister. Interestingly, a lack of significant growth or metabolic activity does not guarantee persistence, as the majority of even "dormant" subpopulations (>99%) were not persisters. These data suggest that persistence is far more complex than dormancy and point to additional characteristics needed to define the persister phenotype.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsCell DivisionDrug Resistance, Multiple, BacterialEscherichia coliFlow CytometryAnti-Bacterial Agents

Identifiers

PMID23629720
PMCPMC3697331

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.