Dynamic Persistence of Antibiotic-Stressed Mycobacteria
Yuichi Wakamoto(École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Neeraj Dhar(École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Remy Chait(Rockefeller University), Katrin Schneider(École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), François Signorino‐Gelo(École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Stanislas Leibler(Institute for Advanced Study), John D. McKinney(École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
Cited by 556Open Access
Abstract
All About Noise How individual cells behave within a larger “average” population can be surprising. Wakamoto et al. (p. 91 ) developed a method for investigating the consequences of phenotypic variability in single mycobacterial cells exposed to the pro-drug, isoniazid. Isoniazid needs to be activated by bacterial catalase. In the isoniazid–mycobacterium system, random fluctuations in catalase activity were important for cell survival. Because catalase is essential, it cannot be ablated; however, catalase activity pulsed randomly in the mycobacteria. Thus, a subpopulation of individual cells manage to avoid being killed by the activated antibiotic.