Journal
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 23, Issue 1, Pages 7-13Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2014.09.004
Keywords
VBNC; bacterial persistence; dormancy; toxin-antitoxin; antibiotic
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Funding
- Saltonstall-Kennedy Program Award of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
- Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
- US Department of Agriculture (USDA) [2009-03571]
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Microbial dormancy is a widespread phenomenon employed by bacteria to evade environmental threats including antibiotics. This intrinsic mechanism of antibiotic tolerance has drawn special attention to the role of dormancy in human disease, particularly in regards to recurrent infections. Two dormancy states, the viable but non-culturable state and bacterial persistence, both produce antibiotic-tolerant populations capable of withstanding prolonged lethal treatment. Currently described as two distinct forms of dormancy, they are rarely discussed in the same context. We argue here that these two dormant states are closely related phenomena which are part of a shared 'dormancy continuum'. This discussion is intended to stimulate discourse about these seemingly different but very similar dormant states.
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