Microfluidics for single-cell study of antibiotic tolerance and persistence induced by nutrient limitation
METADATA ONLY
Author / Producer
Date
2021
Publication Type
Book Chapter
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
METADATA ONLY
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Nutrient limitation is one of the most common triggers of antibiotic tolerance and persistence. Here, we present two microfluidic setups to study how spatial and temporal variation in nutrient availability lead to increased survival of bacteria to antibiotics. The first setup is designed to mimic the growth dynamics of bacteria in spatially structured populations (e.g., biofilms) and can be used to study how spatial gradients in nutrient availability, created by the collective metabolic activity of a population, increase antibiotic tolerance. The second setup captures the dynamics of feast-and-famine cycles that bacteria recurrently encounter in nature, and can be used to study how phenotypic heterogeneity in growth resumption after starvation increases survival of clonal bacterial populations. In both setups, the growth rates and metabolic activity of bacteria can be measured at the single-cell level. This is useful to build a mechanistic understanding of how spatiotemporal variation in nutrient availability triggers bacteria to enter phenotypic states that increase their tolerance to antibiotics.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
Book title
Bacterial Persistence
Journal / series
Volume
2357
Pages / Article No.
107 - 124
Publisher
Humana
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Antibiotic tolerance; Antibiotic persistence; Nutrient limitation; Single-cell measurements; Microfluidics; Biofilms; Feast-and-famine dynamics; Phenotypic heterogeneity
Organisational unit
03743 - Ackermann, Martin / Ackermann, Martin
Notes
Funding
169978 - A microscale analysis of the causes and consequences of the spatial arrangement of biological functions in microbial consortia (SNF)