Abstract
Given that a subpopulation of most bacterial cells becomes dormant due to stress, and that the resting cells of pathogens can revive and reconstitute infections, it is imperative to find methods to treat dormant cells to eradicate infections. The dormant bacteria that are not spores or cysts are known as persister cells. Remarkably, in contrast to the original report that incorrectly indicated indole increases persistence, a large number of indole-related compounds have been found in the last few years that kill persister cells. Hence, in this review, along with a summary of recent results related to persister cell formation and resuscitation, we focus on the ability of indole and substituted indoles to combat the persister cells of both pathogens and non-pathogens.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Shiwei Wang, Northwest University, China Andrey Mulyukin, Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology (RAS), Russia Nityananda Chowdhury, Medical University of South Carolina, United States
In this review, along with a summary of recent results related to persister cell formation and resuscitation, we focus on the ability of indole and substituted indoles to combat the persister cells of both pathogens and non-pathogens
We have tried to clarify these terms to reduce the confusion in the persister-related literature (Wood et al, 2013; Kim and Wood, 2016, 2017; Kim et al, 2018a; Wood and Song, 2020) and tried to indicate how mistakes are being made in the persister literature by not waiting for a true plateau in the classic graph of the remaining viable cells during stress conditions that indicates the presence of persister cells (i.e., “biphasic” cell graph) (Song and Wood, 2020a)
Summary
Reviewed by: Shiwei Wang, Northwest University, China Andrey Mulyukin, Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology (RAS), Russia Nityananda Chowdhury, Medical University of South Carolina, United States. Specialty section: This article was submitted to Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. The dormant bacteria that are not spores or cysts are known as persister cells. In contrast to the original report that incorrectly indicated indole increases persistence, a large number of indole-related compounds have been found in the last few years that kill persister cells. In this review, along with a summary of recent results related to persister cell formation and resuscitation, we focus on the ability of indole and substituted indoles to combat the persister cells of both pathogens and non-pathogens
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