ArticleNPJ biofilms and microbiomes2024
Bacterial killing and the dimensions of bacterial death.
Article in NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 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.
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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
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Discriminating Between Living and Dead Bacteria With a Field-Effect Transistor Based on Nano-Channels.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Article
- Ranalexin-1G: A Promising Antimicrobial Peptide Targeting Virulence and Host-Pathogen Interactions inAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Novel regimens for treatment ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Stimuli-responsive, antimicrobial-loaded nanocarriers for oral biofilm control and microbiome restoration.International journal of oral science · 2026Review
- Fluoride triggers lysis inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Rethinking planetary protection: an island biogeographical analysis.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Observation of persister cell histories reveals diverse modes of survival in antibiotic persistence.eLife · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Bacteria can be dead, alive, or exhibit slowed or suspended life forms, making bacterial death difficult to establish. Here, agar-plating, microscopic-counting, SYTO9/propidium-iodide staining, MTT-conversion, and bioluminescence-imaging were used to determine bacterial death upon exposure to different conditions. Rank correlations between pairs of assay outcomes were low, indicating different assays measure different aspects of bacterial death. Principal-component analysis yielded two principal components, named "reproductive-ability" (PC1) and "metabolic-activity" (PC2). Plotting of these principal components in two-dimensional space revealed a dead region, with borders defined by the PC1 and PC2 values. Sensu stricto implies an unpractical reality that all assays determining PC1 and PC2 must be carried out in order to establish bacterial death. Considering this unpracticality, it is suggested that at least one assay determining reproductive activity (PC1) and one assay determining metabolic activity (PC2) should be used to establish bacterial death. Minimally, researchers should specifically describe which dimension of bacterial death is assessed, when addressing bacterial death.
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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.