ArticleNature communications2025
Composition and liquid-to-solid maturation of protein aggregates contribute to bacterial dormancy development and recovery.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Seeing Bacterial Persistence Through Different Experimental Lenses: How Methodology Shapes Biological Interpretation.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Contributions of persisters and the Eagle effect to survival ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Mechanism of persister formation in response to nitrogen starvation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Review
- Beyond metabolic dormancy: metabolic rewiring in bacterial persistence.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Article
- Beyond Resistance: Phenotypic Plasticity in Bacterial Responses to Antibiotics, Oxidative Stress and Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- DEAD-box ATPase-marked condensates coordinate compartmentalized translation and antibiotic persistence.Science advances · 2026Article
- Molecular Basis of Persister Awakening and Lag-Phase Recovery inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Protein aggregation as a bistable switch in bacterial cell fate: from adaptive dormancy to cytotoxic death.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Stress changes the material state of a bacterial biomolecular condensate and shifts its function from mRNA decay to storage.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Observation of persister cell histories reveals diverse modes of survival in antibiotic persistence.eLife · 2025Article
- Solidification of protein aggregates deepens bacterial dormancy.Trends in microbiology · 2025Article
- Differential carbon source utilization drives metabolic state and resuscitation in antibiotic-tolerant persister cells.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recalcitrant bacterial infections can be caused by various types of dormant bacteria, including persisters and viable but nonculturable (VBNC) cells. Despite their clinical importance, we know fairly little about bacterial dormancy development and recovery. Previously, we established a correlation between protein aggregation and dormancy in Escherichia coli. Here, we present further support for a direct relationship between both. Our experiments demonstrate that aggregates progressively sequester proteins involved in energy production, thereby likely causing ATP depletion and dormancy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that structural features of protein aggregates determine the cell's ability to exit dormancy and resume growth. Proteins were shown to first assemble in liquid-like condensates that solidify over time. This liquid-to-solid phase transition impedes aggregate dissolution, thereby preventing growth resumption. Our data support a model in which aggregate structure, rather than cellular activity, marks the transition from the persister to the VBNC state.
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