ArticleActa naturae
The Potential Role of the Bacterial Persister Formation Gene ptsH in Hypervirulence Development in Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Article in Acta naturae. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Molecular characterization of carbapenem resistance and hypervirulence determinants of Klebsiella pneumoniae circulating in a tertiary hospital in Cyprus.Molecular biology reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Persistence - i.e., the ability to exist in a metabolically inactive form - allows bacteria to accumulate genetic advantages. The evolution of the pathogenic potential of Klebsiella pneumoniae has led to the emergence of strains simultaneously characterized by increased aggressiveness (virulence) and prolonged survival in the host organism. This combination of properties contributes to the emergence of "superbugs," necessitating the search for specific markers that would make it possible to prevent the spread of highly adaptive clones. Hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (hvKp) strains represent a growing global health threat, since they combine high invasiveness and antibiotic resistance. An analysis of 92 K. pneumoniae clinical isolates was conducted to assess the prevalence of the key hypervirulence genes (iroB, peg-344, rmpA, rmpA2, and iucA) and investigate their association with the bacterial persister formation gene ptsH. It was found that 64.1% (59/92) of the isolates carried at least one hvKp gene, iucA being the most frequent one (62.0%). The full set of five hvKp genes was identified in only one case (1%). The strains of sequence types ST23, ST268, ST86, ST534, ST219, ST101, and ST395 accumulated virulence genes, whereas ST512 and ST14 rarely harbored hvKp genes. A key finding was the detection of a significant association between the presence of the ptsH gene (found in 50% of the strains) and the accumulation of hvKp genes: the ptsH-positive strains were statistically more likely to harbor the complete aerobactin operon (iucABCD), in combination with one or more additional hypervirulence genes, compared to the ptsH-negative strains (p < 0.05). Our findings indicate that the ptsH gene is crucial in the formation of polygenically determined hypervirulence, and that its role in controlling bacterial persistence creates evolutionary advantages under stress induced by antibiotics or immune factors, thus promoting evasion of their actions. The phosphotransferase system (PTS), to which the ptsH gene belongs, can potentially become a novel source of molecular targets for the therapy of infections caused by hypervirulent K. pneumoniae strains.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.