Ciprofloxacin-induced persister-cells in Campylobacter jejuni.
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a major bacterial foodborne-pathogen. Ciprofloxacin is an important antibiotic for the treatment of C. jejuni, albeit high rates of fluoroquinolone resistance have limited its usefulness. Persister-cells are transiently antibiotic-tolerant fractions of bacterial populations and their occurrence has been associated with recalcitrant and persistent bacterial infections. Here, time-kill assays with ciprofloxacin (200×MIC, 25 µg ml-1) were performed in C. jejuni strains 81-176 and RM1221 and persister-cells were found. The frequency of survivors after 8 h of ciprofloxacin exposure was approx. 10-3 for both strains, while after 22 h the frequency was between 10-5-10-7, depending on the strain and growth-phase. Interestingly, the stationary-phase cultures did not display more persister-cells compared to exponential-phase cultures, in contrast to what has been observed in other bacterial species. Persister-cells after ampicillin exposure (100×MIC, 200 µg ml-1) were not detected, implying that persister-cell formation in C. jejuni is antibiotic-specific. In attempts to identify the mechanism of ciprofloxacin persister-cell formation, stringent or SOS responses were not found to play major roles. Overall, this st...Continue Reading
References
Rising fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter isolated from feedlot cattle in the United States
YtfK activates the stringent response by triggering the alarmone synthetase SpoT in Escherichia coli
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Campylobacteriosis (ASM)
Campylobacteriosis is caused by the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni and is a common cause of gastroenteritis in humans. Discover the latest research on Campylobacteriosis here.