Adaptation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to Biofilm Growth Is Genetically Linked to Drug Tolerance.

spontaneously grows at the air-medium interface, forming pellicle biofilms, which harbor more drug-tolerant persisters than planktonic cultures. The underlying basis for increased persisters in biofilms is unknown. Using a transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) approach, we show here that multiple genes that are necessary for fitness of cells within biofilms, but not in planktonic cultures, are also implicated in tolerance of bacilli to a diverse set of stressors and antibiotics.

GlnR Activation Induces Peroxide Resistance in Mycobacterial Biofilms.

Mycobacteria spontaneously form surface-associated multicellular communities, called biofilms, which display resistance to a wide range of exogenous stresses. A causal relationship between biofilm formation and emergence of stress resistance is not known. Here, we report that activation of a nitrogen starvation response regulator, GlnR, during the development of biofilms leads to peroxide resistance.

Targeting drug tolerance in mycobacteria: a perspective from mycobacterial biofilms.

Multidrug chemotherapy for 6-9-months is one of the primary treatments in effective control of tuberculosis, although the mechanisms underlying the persistence of its etiological agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, against antibiotics remain unclear. Ever-mounting evidence indicates that the survival of many environmental and pathogenic microbial species against antibiotics is influenced by their ability to grow as surface-associated multicellular communities called biofilms. In recent years, several mycobacterial species, including M.