ReviewFEMS microbiology reviews2022
Phenotypic heterogeneity in persisters: a novel 'hunker' theory of persistence.
Review in FEMS microbiology reviews, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed.
- Seeing Bacterial Persistence Through Different Experimental Lenses: How Methodology Shapes Biological Interpretation.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Pharmacology of Bacterial Persistence: From Antibiotic Tolerance to Antimicrobial Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Bacterial Persister Cells as Evolutionary Catalysts of Antibiotic Resistance: Mechanisms, Clinical Implications, and Therapeutic Strategies.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Identification of a novel gene inAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Ecological and stochastic determinants of the growth and persistence of the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026Article
- Synergistic antipersister, efflux inhibitory & antibiofilm activities of vaginal Lactobacillus-derived postbiotics against UPEC: toward a novel therapeutic for utis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Ecological and Stochastic Determinants of the Growth and Persistence of the Oral Pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections: Understanding the Interplay Between Bacterial Biofilm and Antimicrobial Resistance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system involved in an unusual response to genotoxic stress.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- Heterogeneous efflux pump expression underpins phenotypic resistance to antimicrobial peptides.eLife · 2025Article
- Protein Homeostasis Impairment Alters Phenotypic Heterogeneity of Biofilm Communities.Molecular microbiology · 2025Article
- The identification Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes that modulate long term survival in the presence of rifampicin and streptomycin.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Burden of multi-drug resistant bacterial isolates and its associated risk factors among UTI-confirmed geriatrics in Gondar town.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- From Dormancy to Eradication: Strategies for Controlling Bacterial Persisters in Food Settings.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Differential producibility analysis reveals drug-associated carbon and nitrogen metabolite expressions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2025Article
- Precision single cell analysis to characterize host dependent antimicrobial response heterogeneity in physiological medium.Lab on a chip · 2025Article
- The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity on fungal pathogenicity and drug resistance.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Hallmarks of DNA replication stress responses in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Eradication ofACS infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Phenotypic heterogeneity in bacteria: the rise of antibiotic persistence, clinical implications, and therapeutic opportunities.Archives of microbiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Persistence has been linked to treatment failure since its discovery over 70 years ago and understanding formation, nature and survival of this key antibiotic refractory subpopulation is crucial to enhancing treatment success and combatting the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The term 'persistence' is often used interchangeably with other terms such as tolerance or dormancy. In this review we focus on 'antibiotic persistence' which we broadly define as a feature of a subpopulation of bacterial cells that possesses the non-heritable character of surviving exposure to one or more antibiotics; and persisters as cells that possess this characteristic. We discuss novel molecular mechanisms involved in persister cell formation, as well as environmental factors which can contribute to increased antibiotic persistence in vivo, highlighting recent developments advanced by single-cell studies. We also aim to provide a comprehensive model of persistence, the 'hunker' theory which is grounded in intrinsic heterogeneity of bacterial populations and a myriad of 'hunkering down' mechanisms which can contribute to antibiotic survival of the persister subpopulation. Finally, we discuss antibiotic persistence as a 'stepping-stone' to AMR and stress the urgent need to develop effective anti-persister treatment regimes to treat this highly clinically relevant bacterial sub-population.
Indexed as
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.