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Bacterial physiology: Persisters run out of fuel

Multidrug tolerant bacterial persister cells frequently arise in response to the activation of toxin–antitoxin systems. However, this prevailing view may be less general than assumed. ATP depletion may mediate another route to the persister state for the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.

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Figure 1: Model of S. aureus persister dynamics.

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Correspondence to Ralph Bertram.

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Bertram, R. Bacterial physiology: Persisters run out of fuel. Nat Microbiol 1, 16060 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.60

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