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Inactivation of TCA Cycle Enhances Staphylococcus Aureus Persister Cell Formation in Stationary Phase

Ying Wang, Martin Saxtorph Bojer, Shilpa Elizabeth George, Zhihao Wang, Peter Ruhdal Jensen, Christiane Wolz, Hanne Ingmer

Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 18;8(1):10849.

PMID: 30022089

Abstract:

Persister cells constitute a small subpopulation of bacteria that display remarkably high antibiotic tolerance and for pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus are suspected as culprits of chronic and recurrent infections. Persisters formed during exponential growth are characterized by low ATP levels but less is known of cells in stationary phase. By enrichment from a transposon mutant library in S. aureus we identified mutants that in this growth phase displayed enhanced persister cell formation. We found that inactivation of either sucA or sucB, encoding the subunits of the α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), increased survival to lethal concentrations of ciprofloxacin by 10-100 fold as did inactivation of other TCA cycle genes or atpA encoding a subunit of the F1F0 ATPase. In S. aureus, TCA cycle activity and gene expression are de-repressed in stationary phase but single cells with low expression may be prone to form persisters. While ATP levels were not consistently affected in high persister mutants they commonly displayed reduced membrane potential, and persistence was enhanced by a protein motive force inhibitor. Our results show that persister cell formation in stationary phase does not correlate with ATP levels but is associated with low membrane potential.

Chemicals Related in the Paper:

Catalog Number Product Name Structure CAS Number Price
AP83654142 ATPA ATPA 83654-14-2 Price
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