Biodynamic Optical Imaging Center (BIOPIC), School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871.
Institute of Disease Control and Prevention, AMMS, Beijing, 100071, China.
Drug Resist Updat. 2017 Jan;30:7-14. doi: 10.1016/j.drup.2016.11.002. Epub 2016 Nov 29.
Bacterial persisters are phenotypic variants of an isogenic cell population that can survive antibiotic treatment and resume growth after the antibiotics have been removed. Cell dormancy has long been considered the principle mechanism underlying persister formation. However, dormancy alone is insufficient to explain the full range of bacterial persistence. Our recent work revealed that in addition to 'passive defense' via dormancy, persister cells employ 'active defense' via enhanced efflux activity to expel drugs. This finding suggests that persisters combine two seemingly contradictory mechanisms to tolerate antibiotic attack. Here, we review the passive and active aspects of persister formation, discuss new insights into the process, and propose new techniques that can facilitate the study of bacterial persistence.
细菌持久型是同种细胞群体的表型变异体，能够在抗生素治疗后存活，并在抗生素去除后恢复生长。细胞休眠长期以来被认为是持久型形成的主要机制。然而，仅休眠不足以解释细菌持久性的全部范围。我们最近的工作表明，除了通过休眠进行“被动防御”外，持久型细胞还通过增强外排活性来进行“主动防御”以排出药物。这一发现表明，持久型细胞将两种看似矛盾的机制结合起来，以耐受抗生素的攻击。在这里，我们综述了持久型形成的被动和主动方面，讨论了对该过程的新认识，并提出了新的技术，这些技术可以促进细菌持久性的研究。
