Persistence: a copacetic and parsimonious hypothesis for the existence of non-inherited resistance to antibiotics.

Persistence: a copacetic and parsimonious hypothesis for the existence of non-inherited resistance to antibiotics.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2014 Aug 1;21C:18-21
Authors: Levin BR, Concepción-Acevedo J, Udekwu KI
Abstract
We postulate that phenotypic resistance to antibiotics, persistence, is not an evolved (selected-for) character but rather like mutation, an inadvertent product of different kinds of errors and glitches. The rate of generation of these errors is augmented by exposure to these drugs. The genes that have been identified as contributing to the production of persisters are analogous to the so-called mutator genes; they modulate the rate at which these errors occur and/or are corrected. In theory, these phenotypically resistant bacteria can retard the rate of microbiological cure by antibiotic treatment.
PMID: 25090240 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - August 1, 2014 Category: Microbiology Authors: Levin BR, Concepción-Acevedo J, Udekwu KI Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research