ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2015
Ranking of persister genes in the same Escherichia coli genetic background demonstrates varying importance of individual persister genes in tolerance to different antibiotics.
Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reactive oxygen detoxification contributes toeLife · 2026Article
- The SOS Response: A Double-Edged Sword between the Persister and Resister Formation.ACS omega · 2026Review
- Single-cell analysis reveals critical toxin/antitoxin ratio triggering persister resuscitation.Molecular systems biology · 2026Article
- Beyond Resistance: Phenotypic Plasticity in Bacterial Responses to Antibiotics, Oxidative Stress and Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- An uncharacterized small protein MicN mediates the transcriptional reprogramming of Salmonella through regulating the RpoS-RNA polymerase interaction.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Beyond Resistance: Tolerance and Resilience of Bacteria to Photodynamic and Oxidative Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Observation of persister cell histories reveals diverse modes of survival in antibiotic persistence.eLife · 2025Article
- A link between aging and persistence.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Composition and liquid-to-solid maturation of protein aggregates contribute to bacterial dormancy development and recovery.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Bacterial persisters: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic development.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- RpoS role in antibiotic resistance, tolerance and persistence in E. coli natural isolates.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
- Single-cell analysis reveals that cryptic prophage protease LfgB protectsMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Maintenance and generation of proton motive force are both essential for expression of phenotypic antibiotic tolerance in bacteria.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems: Novel insights on toxin activation across populations and experimental shortcomings.Current research in microbial sciences · 2023Review
- Overexpression of a DNA Methyltransferase Increases Persister Cell Formation in Acinetobacter baumannii.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- L-Form Switching in Escherichia coli as a Common β-Lactam Resistance Mechanism.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- The Association between Biofilm Formation and Antimicrobial Resistance with Possible Ingenious Bio-Remedial Approaches.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Gradients in gene essentiality reshape antibacterial research.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Review
- Growth-dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli.Molecular systems biology · 2022Article
- Bugs on Drugs: AMicroorganisms · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Despite the identification of many genes and pathways involved in the persistence phenomenon of bacteria, the relative importance of these genes in a single organism remains unclear. Here, using Escherichia coli as a model, we generated mutants of 21 known candidate persister genes and compared the relative importance of these mutants in persistence to various antibiotics (ampicillin, gentamicin, norfloxacin, and trimethoprim) at different times. We found that oxyR, dnaK, sucB, relA, rpoS, clpB, mqsR, and recA were prominent persister genes involved in persistence to multiple antibiotics. These genes map to the following pathways: antioxidative defense pathway (oxyR), global regulators (dnaK, clpB, and rpoS), energy production (sucB), stringent response (relA), toxin-antitoxin (TA) module (mqsR), and SOS response (recA). Among the TA modules, the ranking order was mqsR, lon, relE, tisAB, hipA, and dinJ. Intriguingly, rpoS deletion caused a defect in persistence to gentamicin but increased persistence to ampicillin and norfloxacin. Mutants demonstrated dramatic differences in persistence to different antibiotics at different time points: some mutants (oxyR, dnaK, phoU, lon, recA, mqsR, and tisAB) displayed defect in persistence from early time points, while other mutants (relE, smpB, glpD, umuD, and tnaA) showed defect only at later time points. These results indicate that varying hierarchy and importance of persister genes exist and that persister genes can be divided into those involved in shallow persistence and those involved in deep persistence. Our findings suggest that the persistence phenomenon is a dynamic process with different persister genes playing roles of variable significance at different times. These findings have implications for improved understanding of persistence phenomenon and developing new drugs targeting persisters for more effective cure of persistent infections.
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