Maisonneuve Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2016

Control of Bacterial Multidrug Tolerance and Stress Response by Alarmone Synthetase SpoT

Difficult-to-treat chronic and recurrent bacterial infections are often caused by bacteria that are sensitive to commonly used antibiotics. The reasons for this recalcitrance are frequently unknown. However, when grown in the laboratory, all bacteria, including major pathogens form persister cells that are multidrug tolerant, a phenomenon thought to be a major factor underlying recalcitrant infections. We observed that the general bacterial stress response, known as “the stringent response”, plays a key role in persister cell maintenance. Indeed, stochastic variation of the stringent response regulator ppGpp triggers persister cell formation. However, the molecular mechanisms by which…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.