Novel Approaches for Investigating Antibiotic Resistance and Bacterial Persistence
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 17598
Special Issue Editors
Interests: infectious diseases; persisters; antipersister therapeutics; persister metabolism; persister cell resuscitation; bacterial autophagy; cancer persister
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Antibiotic treatment failure is a global public health crisis and imposes a grave impact on many developing countries. In addition to resistant mutants, antibiotics can fail against microorganisms that survive therapy without acquiring heritable genetic changes that enable them to grow in the presence of inhibitory antibiotic concentrations. Bacterial persisters, which are reversible antibiotic-tolerant cells within clonal cultures, contribute to this problem because persister cells are thought to facilitate the recurrence of chronic and biofilm-related infections. Although persister cells transiently survive lethal concentrations of antibiotics, they have been shown to promote the emergence of drug resistant mutants. The persistence phenomenon has been documented across multiple microbial organisms and in response to a variety of antibiotic classes.
Persistence can be induced stochastically due to random fluctuations in levels of stress-related cellular molecules. Deterministic mechanisms triggered by environmental signals, such as antibiotic treatment, nutrient depletion, and osmotic conditions, can also affect the level of persister cells present in the population. Following antibiotic treatment, persister cells can potentially regain the ability to initiate cell growth in response to environmental cues and establish populations of antibiotic-sensitive cells. Given that mechanisms associated with persister cell formation, survival and resuscitation are highly complex and diverse, many aspects of persistence are yet to be discovered. Therefore, we would like to invite you to send contributions to this Special Issue of Microorganisms. Topics of particular interest in this issue include, but are not limited to, recent approaches and findings in persister formation and resuscitation mechanisms; the links between persistence and mutational resistance mechanisms; persister cell heterogeneity; persister cell physiology; and anti-persister strategies.
Dr. Mehmet A. Orman
Dr. Wendy W.K. Mok
Guest Editors
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. Microorganisms 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 2700 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.
Keywords
- bacterial persisters
- phenotypic heterogeneity
- persister formation
- survival and resuscitation mechanisms
- links between persistence and resistance
- persister cell physiology
- environmental triggers of persistence
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.