ArticlePLoS pathogens2021
Antibiotics modulate attractive interactions in bacterial colonies affecting survivability under combined treatment.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Probing Antibiotic Inhibition in Small Bacterial Populations With Combinatorial Droplet Microfluidics.Small science · 2026Article
- Pilus-mediated co-aggregation with Lactobacillus crispatus increases meningococcal susceptibility to antimicrobial agents by interfering with microcolony formation.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Dissecting the physics of bacterial biofilms with agent-based simulations.Current opinion in solid state & materials science · 2025Article
- Pilin antigenic variants impact gonococcal lifestyle and antibiotic tolerance by modulating interbacterial forces.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Optogenetic Control of Bacterial Cell-Cell Adhesion Dynamics: Unraveling the Influence on Biofilm Architecture and Functionality.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Collective polarization dynamics in bacterial colonies signify the occurrence of distinct subpopulations.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Markedly Increasing Antibiotic Resistance and Dual Treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates in Guangdong, China, from 2013 to 2020.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2022Article
- External Stresses Affect Gonococcal Type 4 Pilus Dynamics.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of growth and death within spherical bacterial colonies.Biophysical journal · 2021Article
- Fresh Extension of Vibrio cholerae Competence Type IV Pili Predisposes Them for Motor-Independent Retraction.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Biofilm formation protects bacteria from antibiotics. Very little is known about the response of biofilm-dwelling bacteria to antibiotics at the single cell level. Here, we developed a cell-tracking approach to investigate how antibiotics affect structure and dynamics of colonies formed by the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Antibiotics targeting different cellular functions enlarge the cell volumes and modulate within-colony motility. Focusing on azithromycin and ceftriaxone, we identify changes in type 4 pilus (T4P) mediated cell-to-cell attraction as the molecular mechanism for different effects on motility. By using strongly attractive mutant strains, we reveal that the survivability under ceftriaxone treatment depends on motility. Combining our results, we find that sequential treatment with azithromycin and ceftriaxone is synergistic. Taken together, we demonstrate that antibiotics modulate T4P-mediated attractions and hence cell motility and colony fluidity.
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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.