Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will examine bacterial drug persistence, a phenomenon where the bacteria are able to survive in the presence of an otherwise lethal dose of an antibiotic without the development of resistance. Topics covered in this issue will include the basis of drug persistence, differences associated with drug persistence, and characterizing bacterial drug persisters. It also includes regulation of genes that may be tied to persistence, as well as pathogenesis if there is a possible connection to persister cells.

Professor Dr. William Schwan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (1 paper)

Review

19 pages, 745 KiB

Open AccessReview

Antibiotic Persistence as a Metabolic Adaptation: Stress, Metabolism, the Host, and New Directions

by Damien J. Cabral, Jenna I. Wurster and Peter Belenky

Pharmaceuticals 2018, 11(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph11010014 - 01 Feb 2018

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 8292

Abstract

Persistence is a phenomenon during which a small fraction of a total bacterial population survives treatment with high concentrations of antibiotics for an extended period of time. In conjunction with biofilms, antibiotic persisters represent a major cause of recalcitrant and recurring infections, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. In this review, we discuss the clinical significance of persister cells and the central role of bacterial metabolism in their formation, specifically with respect to carbon catabolite repression, sugar metabolism, and growth regulation. Additionally, we will examine persister formation as an evolutionary strategy used to tolerate extended periods of stress and discuss some of the response mechanisms implicated in their formation. To date, the vast majority of the mechanistic research examining persistence has been conducted in artificial in vitro environments that are unlikely to be representative of host conditions. Throughout this review, we contextualize the existing body of literature by discussing how in vivo conditions may create ecological niches that facilitate the development of persistence. Lastly, we identify how the development of next-generation sequencing and other “big data” tools may enable researchers to examine persistence mechanisms within the host to expand our understanding of their clinical importance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bacterial Drug Persisters: Basis, Regulatory Events, and Role in Pathogenesis)

► Show Figures