“Persisters”: Survival at the Cellular Level

Clinton C Dawson,Mary Ann Jabra-Rizk,Chaidan Intapa,Hiten D Madhani

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002121

Clinton C Dawson, Mary Ann Jabra-Rizk + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002121

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Journal: PLoS Pathogens	Publication Date: Jul 28, 2011
Citations: 115	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Maryland, Baltimore

Abstract

Rather than being slowly eroded and destroyed, countless numbers of varied forms of life adapt to the diverse aspects of an ever changing environment. However, the amount of variation is maintained at a practical optimum, as too much variation would make the population ill-adapted in a stable environment, while too little variation would render it unable to adapt to environmental stresses. This principle is perhaps well exemplified by a phenomenon described for microbial cells termed “persistence” where in the face of antibiotics bacterial populations avoid extinction by harboring a subpopulation of drug-insensitive dormant cells. Although this phenomenon poses a major obstacle for the treatment of infectious diseases, persistence has been underappreciated for some time as a mechanism for bacteria to evade antibiotics. But the mechanisms of bacterial persistence are becoming clearer and so are ways to combat them. This article highlights the phenomenon of survival and persistence in cells as diverse as microbial and human and summarizes the recent advances that have taken us one step closer to understanding what persistence is all about.

Highlights

Rather than being slowly eroded and destroyed, countless numbers of varied forms of life adapt to the diverse aspects of an ever changing environment
In the early 1940s, it was only appropriate for Joseph Bigger to refer to a small subpopulation of bacterial cells that survived killing by penicillin, as ‘‘persisters’’ [1]
When the antimicrobial agent is removed, these persisting microbial cells resume growth, but their progeny is sensitive to the antimicrobial agent (Figure 1) [7,8]

Summary

Introduction

Rather than being slowly eroded and destroyed, countless numbers of varied forms of life adapt to the diverse aspects of an ever changing environment. The amount of variation is maintained at a practical optimum, as too much variation would make the population ill-adapted in a stable environment, while too little variation would render it unable to adapt to environmental stresses This principle is perhaps well exemplified by a phenomenon described for microbial cells termed ‘‘persistence’’ where in the face of antibiotics bacterial populations avoid extinction by harboring a subpopulation of druginsensitive dormant cells. In the early 1940s, it was only appropriate for Joseph Bigger to refer to a small subpopulation of bacterial cells that survived killing by penicillin, as ‘‘persisters’’ [1] These small numbers of cells were proposed to be dormant and nongrowing phenotypic variants of the general cell population [2,3]. When the antimicrobial agent is removed, these persisting microbial cells resume growth, but their progeny is sensitive to the antimicrobial agent (Figure 1) [7,8]

Formation of Drug Tolerant Persisters

Findings

Cancer Persister Cells