Combination of Antibiotics—Nisin Reduces the Formation of Persister Cell in Listeria monocytogenes

Abstract

Persister cells are a subpopulation of bacteria with the ability of survival when exposed to lethal doses of antibiotics, and are responsible for antibiotic therapy failure and infection recurrences. In this study, we investigated persister cell formation and the role of nisin in combination with antibiotics in reducing persistence in Listeria monocytogenes. We also examined the expression of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems in persister cells of L. monocytogenes to gain a better understanding of the effect of TA systems on persister cell formation. To induce persistence, L. monocytogenes were exposed to high doses of different antibiotics over a period of 24 hr, and the expression levels of TA system was genes were measured 5 hr after the addition of antibiotics by the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method. To investigate the effect of nisin, L. monocytogenes was exposed to a combination of nisin and antibiotics. According to our results, L. monocytogenes was highly capable of persister cell formation, and the combination of nisin and antibiotics resulted in reduced persistence. qRT-PCR results showed a significant increase in GNAT/RHH expression among the studied systems. Overall, our results demonstrated the potential of the combination of nisin and antibiotics in reducing persister cell formation, and emphasized the role of the GNAT/RHH system in bacterial persistence.

Evaluation of gene expression and protein structural modeling involved in persister cell formation in Salmonella Typhimurium

“…soxS expression was also increased 18.2-fold in the presence of ampicillin and 19.52-fold in the exposure of ciprofloxacin, which may indicate the role of this gene in the production of persister cells. One of the mechanisms that most studies have linked to the formation of persister cells is TA systems [59,60]. In E. coli, the MazF toxin with its RNase properties, breaks down cellular RNAs and cause inhibiting cell growth and promoting persistence [61].…”

Pheromone cCF10 inhibits the antibiotic persistence of Enterococcus faecalis by modulating energy metabolism

“…Moreover, Dufour et al (2022) discovered that quorum sensing (QS) could promote bacterial persistence by regulating the TA system. Based on existing insights into these mechanisms, researchers hypothesized that specific chemicals and small molecules ( Liu et al, 2021 ; Narimisa et al, 2021 ) might impede persister formation by modulating QS systems ( Allegretta et al, 2017 ), biofilms ( Lin et al, 2022 ; Nguyen et al, 2023 ), and intracellular ATP levels ( Conlon et al, 2016 ; Aedo et al, 2019 ) in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The use of single-cell technologies including flow cytometry, microscopy, microfluidic devices, and other technologies in conjunction with each other can enhance our ability to recognize persisters ( Balomenos et al, 2017 ; Hare et al, 2021 ).…”

Genotyping of Listeria monocytogenes isolates by high-resolution melting curve (HRM) analysis of tandem repeat locus

“…1 , 2 L. monocytogenes is widely distributed in the environment and has the ability to survive and grow in harsh conditions, such as low temperatures and high saline concentrations. 3 L. monocytogenes is an environmental organism that typically infects food in the processing industry and it is estimated that 99% of human listeriosis infections are caused by the consumption of contaminated foods. 4 Listeriosis is linked with a high rate of hospitalization (85%–90%) and the mortality rate for this disorder is 20%‒30%, which is higher than infections caused by other food poisoning pathogens.…”