Abstract
Antibiotic persistence is defined as the ability of a subpopulation of bacteria within a clonal antibiotic-susceptible population to survive antibiotic treatment. Studies on antibiotic persistence have traditionally been carried out on bacteria cultured in laboratory media. However, over recent years, there has been a push to study antibiotic persisters in more physiologically relevant systems. Thus, the concept of antibiotic persistence during infection, which refers to the ability of a subpopulation of bacteria to survive combined host and antibiotic challenges, has emerged as a major new frontier of research. Here, we discuss the relevance and principles of this concept using relapsing Salmonella enterica infections as an example. We critically evaluate the clinical and experimental evidence for the existence and importance of antibiotic persisters in relapsing Salmonella infections; we outline our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms that enable successful antibiotic persistence during infection; and, finally, we discuss the challenges for this nascent field going forward.
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Hill, P.W.S., Helaine, S. (2019). Antibiotic Persisters and Relapsing Salmonella enterica Infections. In: Lewis, K. (eds) Persister Cells and Infectious Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25241-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25241-0_2
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