| Title | MINIREVIEW] Bacterial persistence: Fundamentals and clinical importance |
|---|---|
| Author | Sung-Hee Jung1,2, Choong-Min Ryu1,2, and Jun-Seob Kim3* |
| Address | 1Infectious Disease Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea, 2Biosystems and Bioengineering Program, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 3414, Republic of Korea, 31Infectious Disease Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 57(10),829–835, 2019, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-019-9218-0 |
| Key Words | bacterial persistence, antibiotics, tolerance, survival |
| Abstract | The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing worldwide. Bacteria utilize persistence and resistance to survive antibiotic stress. For a long time, persistence has been studied only under laboratory conditions. Hence, studies of bacterial persistence are limited. Recently, however, the high incidence of infection relapses caused by persister cells in immunocompromised patients has emphasized the importance of persister research. Furthermore, persister pathogens are one of the causes of chronic infectious diseases, leading to the overuse of antibiotics and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, understanding the precise mechanism of persister formation is important for continued use of available antibiotics. In this review, we aimed to provide an overview of the persister studies published to date and the current knowledge of persister formation mechanisms. Recent studies of the features and mechanisms of persister formation are analyzed from the perspective of the nature of the persister cell. |