Possible role of L-form switching in recurrent urinary tract infection

Katarzyna M. Mickiewicz (), Yoshikazu Kawai, Lauren Drage, Margarida C. Gomes, Frances Davison, Robert Pickard, Judith Hall, Serge Mostowy, Phillip D. Aldridge and Jeff Errington ()
Additional contact information
Katarzyna M. Mickiewicz: Newcastle University
Yoshikazu Kawai: Newcastle University
Lauren Drage: Newcastle University
Margarida C. Gomes: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Frances Davison: Newcastle University
Robert Pickard: Newcastle University
Judith Hall: Newcastle University
Serge Mostowy: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Phillip D. Aldridge: Newcastle University
Jeff Errington: Newcastle University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) is a major medical problem, especially in the elderly and infirm, but the nature of the reservoir of organisms responsible for survival and recolonisation after antibiotic treatment in humans is unclear. Here, we demonstrate the presence of cell-wall deficient (L-form) bacteria in fresh urine from 29 out of 30 older patients with rUTI. In urine, E. coli strains from patient samples readily transition from the walled state to L-form during challenge with a cell wall targeting antibiotic. Following antibiotic withdrawal, they then efficiently transition back to the walled state. E. coli switches between walled and L-form states in a zebrafish larva infection model. The results suggest that L-form switching is a physiologically relevant phenomenon that may contribute to the recurrence of infection in older patients with rUTI, and potentially other infections.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12359-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12359-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12359-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().