RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Kuczyńska-Wiśnik, Dorota A1 Stojowska, Karolina A1 Matuszewska, Ewelina A1 Leszczyńska, Daria A1 Algara, María Moruno A1 Augustynowicz, Mateusz A1 Laskowska, EwaYR 2015 T1 Lack of intracellular trehalose affects formation of Escherichia coli persister cells JF Microbiology, VO 161 IS 4 SP 786 OP 796 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000012 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Persisters are dormant antibiotic-tolerant cells that usually compose a small fraction of bacterial populations. In this work, we focused on the role of trehalose in persister formation. We found that the ΔotsA mutant, which is unable to synthesize trehalose, produced increased levels of persisters in the early stationary phase and under heat stress conditions. The lack of trehalose in the ΔotsA mutant resulted in oxidative stress, manifested by increased membrane lipid peroxidation after heat shock. Stationary ΔotsA cells additionally exhibited increased levels of oxidized proteins and apurinic/apyrimidinic sites in DNA as compared to WT cells. Oxidative stress caused by the lack of trehalose was accompanied by the overproduction of extracellular indole, a signal molecule that has been shown to stimulate persister formation. Our major conclusion is that intracellular trehalose protects E. coli cells against oxidative stress and limits indole synthesis, which in turn inhibits the formation of persisters., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000012