Bacterial persister cells are considered a basis for chronic infections and relapse caused by bacterial pathogens. Persisters are phenotypic variants characterized by low metabolic activity and slow or no replication. This low metabolic state increases pathogen tolerance to antibiotics and host immune defenses that target actively growing cells. In this study we demonstrate that within a popula...

Sea anemone cytolysins constitute a novel class of toxins that functions by forming channels in cell membranes. In contrast to the bacterial pore-forming toxins, there is little detailed information on the mechanism of action of these toxins and as yet no 3-D structures have been determined. These highly basic toxins of mass ∼20 kDa generate pores in membranes containing sphingomyelin by formin...

Actin crosslinking toxins produced by Gram-negative bacteria represent a small but unique class of bacterial protein toxins. For each of these toxins, a discrete actin crosslinking domain (ACD) that is a distant member of the ATP-dependent glutamine synthetase family of protein ligases is translocated to the eukaryotic cell cytosol. This domain then incorporates a glutamate-lysine crosslink bet...

Subject Collection Bacterial Pathogenesis Bacterial Protein Toxins General Aspects and Recent Advances on Emmanuel Lemichez and Joseph T. Barbieri Epigenetics and Bacterial Infections Cossart Hélène Bierne, Mélanie Hamon and Pascale and Possibilities for Its Control Bacterial Quorum Sensing: Its Role in Virulence Steven T. Rutherford and Bonnie L. Bassler Epithelial Cells: An Updated View in Ma...

Most bacterial toxins derived from chromosomally encoded toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems that have been studied to date appear to protect cells from relatively short pulses of stress by triggering a reversible state of growth arrest. In contrast to many bacterial toxins that are produced as defense mechanisms and secreted from their hosts, TA toxins exert their protective effect from within the ce...

Bacterial cells have developed multiple strategies to communicate with their surrounding environment. The intracellular compartment is separated from the milieu by a relatively impermeable cell envelope through which small molecules can passively diffuse, while larger macromolecules, such as proteins, can be actively transported. In Gram-negative bacteria, the cell envelope is a double membrane...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172445.].

A prospective population-based cohort study with a nested case-control study was conducted to estimate the incidence of gastroenteritis and the associated pathogens in the general Dutch population. Follow-up of two consecutive cohorts was performed by weekly reporting cards from December 1998 to December 1999. Cases and controls in the case-control study supplied a questionnaire and stool sampl...

An in vitro cytotoxicity microassay for the measurement of nanogram quantities of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin and Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin is described.