2.5 The phenyl acetic catabolic pathway
In ATCC 19606 strain under a ceftazidime (50 × MIC) antibiotic shock, the aromatic compound degradation (PAA) genes were overexpressed in persister cells (Table 1) [113]. The authors suggest that the degradation of the aromatic ring of antibiotics was used by A. baumannii under conditions of nutrient limitation. In ATCC 17978, under antibiotic subinhibitory concentrations, the PAA operon was shown to be overexpressed while Csu pilus expression and biofilm formation were repressed [114]. This suggests that this pathway may participate to the regulatory network used in response to antibiotic treatment.