Escherichia coli persister cells suppress translation by selectively disassembling and degrading their ribosomes

摘要: Bacterial persisters are rare, phenotypically distinct cells that survive exposure to multiple antibiotics. Previous studies indicated formation and maintenance of the persister phenotype regulated by suppressing translation. To examine mechanism this translational suppression, we developed novel methodology rapidly purify ribosome complexes from cells. We purified His-tagged ribosomes Escherichia coli over-expressed HipA protein, which induces formation, were treated with ampicillin remove antibiotic-sensitive profiled analyzed ribosomal RNA protein components these Our results show (i) in exist largely as inactive subunits, (ii) rRNAs tRNAs mostly degraded (iii) a small fraction remain intact, except for reduced amounts seven proteins. findings explain basis suppression suggest how