Vibrio parahaemolyticus persisters: Novel insights into stress resilience, metabolic reprogramming, and implications for food safety

Persisters are a type of antibiotic-tolerant dormant bacteria driving recurrent infections. This study first reported Vibrio parahaemolyticus's capacity to generate persisters under 20 × MIC norfloxacin stress, with a formation frequency of 0.1 %. The persisters exhibited canonical phenotypic and metabolic hallmarks, including depleted ATP levels, accumulated protein aggregates, small colony morphology, and growth lag. And persisters exhibited enhanced survival under food-processing stresses (brief heating, low ethanol, acidic pH, low temperature, simulated digestion) compared to wild-type strains, with the abilities of rapid virulence resurgence and cross-antibiotic resistance. This might indicate persisters present risks in food and clinical settings. Metabolomic analysis revealed that persisters primarily reduce proton motive force on the membrane surface to inhibit ATP synthesis, inducing temporary dormancy, and decrease membrane permeability to limit substance exchange with the external environment, thereby achieving survival under adverse conditions. This study revealed the persisters' risks in food systems and established control strategy foundations.