AUTHOR=Huang Xue , Duan Xiangke , Li Jiang , Niu Jingjing , Yuan Siqi , Wang Xiaoyu , Lambert Nzungize , Li Xue , Xu Junqi , Gong Zhen , Yan Shuangquan , Xie Longxiang , Xie Jianping 

TITLE=The Synergistic Effect of Exogenous Glutamine and Rifampicin Against Mycobacterium Persisters

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01625

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.01625

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Persisters, stochastic dormant variants of normal bacteria cell, represent a significant portion of the survivors upon exposure to antibiotics and other environmental stresses, which contributes substantially to high level antibiotics tolerance. Glutamine is a crucial component of the <italic>Mycobacteria</italic> nitrogen pool that is indispensable for survival upon stresses. To study whether a synergistic effect exists between glutamine and antibiotics against <italic>Mycobacterial</italic> persisters, the efficacy of rifampicin alone or together with exogenous glutamine upon <italic>Mycobacterium smegmatis</italic> mc<sup>2</sup> 155 persisters was monitored. The result showed that glutamine decreases <italic>M. smegmatis</italic> tolerance to rifampicin upon starvation. The reactive oxygen species level of the strains treated with rifampicin and glutamine increased. The synergism of glutamine and rifampicin to kill persisters might derive from altering the oxidative phosphorylation and TCA cycle, as both evidenced by both ATP level increase and transcriptome change. Glutamine might represent a synergistic agent of rifampicin to kill <italic>Mycobacteria</italic> persisters.</p>