Sulfoglycolysis: a Potential Target for Attack on Bacterial Persistence

Bad bacteria, like E. coli and Salmonella, contaminating water or food, can breach the human defense system and cause acute disease. A subpopulation of bacteria are able to "hibernate" in niche areas such as urinary tract, intestine, and gallbladder and develop persistence. This is a major problem, causing chronic and recurrent infections, with most current antibiotics ineffective against persistent bacteria. Recently, some of these bacteria were discovered to use an abundant sulfur-containing sugar as their source of energy. My research has found this process, called sulfoglycolysis, also gives persistent bacteria the advantage to survive antibiotic treatment. Understanding this will enable us to control persistent bacteria. My research programme will explore how these sugars are selected by persistent bacteria, discover how they are used, and study the proteins involved, for both safe and disease-causing bacteria. Our long-term goal is to discover a new approach for urgently-needed antibiotics to tackle bacterial persistence.