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Antibiotics

Killing the survivors

Nature volume 503, pages 347–349 (2013)Cite this article

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Antibiotic-tolerant, dormant variants of otherwise antibiotic-sensitive bacteria underlie many chronic and relapsing infections. A small molecule has been identified that can efficiently eradicate these persister cells. See Article p.365

It is well documented that the incidence of pathogenic antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing at an alarming pace. But it is less well known that almost all bacteria, including major pathogens, generate persisters — slow-growing or hibernating cells that are tolerant to multiple antibiotics. Importantly, these variants form at frequencies higher than mutation rates and, consistent with this, seem to be genetically identical to the antibiotic-sensitive organism. Persister cells are a primary source of chronic and relapsing bacterial infections1 because they are difficult or impossible to eradicate using conventional antibiotics. There is therefore a pressing need to develop treatments that can kill persisters. persisters. On page 365 of this issue, Conlon et al.2 present evidence that acyldepsipeptides, an emerging class of antibiotic, efficiently kill persisters of certain types of bacterium. Remarkably, when used in conjunction with conventional antibiotics, one of these agents completely eliminated the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus growing in culture, and also cured an S. aureus infection in mice.

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Figure 1: ADEPs activate ClpP and kill persister bacteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. and in the Department of Biology, Kenn Gerdes is at the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.,

    Kenn Gerdes

  2. Hanne Ingmer is in the Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, University of Copenhagen, 1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark.,

    Hanne Ingmer

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  1. Kenn Gerdes
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  2. Hanne Ingmer
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Correspondence to Kenn Gerdes or Hanne Ingmer.

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Gerdes, K., Ingmer, H. Killing the survivors. Nature 503, 347–349 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12834

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