Warum manche Bakterien Antibiotika überleben und wie man sie stoppt – Neue Studie zeigt, dass Bakterien die Behandlung mit Antibiotika durch zwei grundlegend unterschiedliche „Abschaltmodi“ überleben können.

>For years, persistence has largely been blamed on bacteria that shut down and lie dormant, essentially going into a kind of sleep that protects them from antibiotics designed to target active growth. But new [research](http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt6577) led by PhD student Adi Rotem under the guidance Prof. Nathalie Balaban from Hebrew University reveals that this explanation tells only part of the story.

>The study shows that high survival under antibiotics can originate from two fundamentally different growth-arrest states, and they are not just variations of the same “sleeping” behavior. One is a controlled, regulated shutdown, the classic dormancy model. The other is something entirely different: a disrupted, dysregulated arrest, where bacteria survive not by protective calm but by entering a malfunctioning state with distinct vulnerabilities.

>“We found that bacteria can survive antibiotics by following two very different paths,” said Prof. Balaban. “Recognizing the difference helps resolve years of conflicting results and points to more effective treatment strategies.”