We present a method capable of detecting single slow-growing and growth-arrested cells in a bacterial culture composed of physiologically and phenotypically different cells. Unlike the use of transcriptional reporters to gauge the metabolic activities in cells, here, we fuse two different fluorescent proteins with distinctive maturation rates to construct a timer to directly determine the growth rate of single Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells. We demonstrate that the dual-color fluorescent timer can indicate the slow-growing and growth-arrested cells from bacterial cultures in the presence of various environmental stresses, including nutrient starvation or antibiotic treatments, which greatly expand the methods for detecting and isolating persister cells.
Keywords: fluorescent timer; pathogenic bacteria; persister cells.