Proteolytic Queues at ClpXP Increase Antibiotic Tolerance.

Antibiotic tolerance is a widespread phenomenon that renders antibiotic treatments less effective and facilitates antibiotic resistance. Here we explore the role of proteases in antibiotic tolerance, short-term population survival of antibiotics, using queueing theory (, the study of waiting lines), computational models, and a synthetic biology approach. Proteases are key cellular components that degrade proteins and play an important role in a multidrug tolerant subpopulation of cells, called persisters.