A link between aging and persistence

This dataset was used to establish a connection between two phenomena related to phenotypic heterogeneity in bacteria: antibiotic persistence and aging. It contains physiological measurements of Escherichia coli cells growing within microfluidic devices, in either exponential or stationary phase. Populations growing exponentially were subjected to damaging treatments, either through photo-oxidation of sub-inhibitory Streptomycin concentrations, or to persistence triggering via Tetracycline exposure. Only the latter treatment produced persisters during exponential phase. Data from stationary phase populations includes the transition from exponential to stationary phase, showing that cells inheriting old poles arrest growth earlier than those inheriting new poles., Escherichia coli cells were grown in mother machine and dial-a-wave microfluidic devices, and imaged through time-lapse microscopy. Cell segmentation was performed on ImageJ to determine cell sizes, elongation rates, and doubling times. The area of protein aggregates was determined with MicrobeJ., , # Data from: A link between aging and persistence

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm3845](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7d7wm3845)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data on *Escherichia coli* elongation rates, doubling times, and survival over time were obtained by culturing populations in microfluidic devices. All populations were grown in LB media at 37°C. Cell segmentation and tracking was performed on ImageJ.

### Files and variables

#### File: Data\_for\_Fig\_2A.csv

**Description:** Growth over time for bacteria growing in continuous exponential phase in mother machine microfluidic devices.

##### Variables

* Time (hours): time of birth, recorded immediately after cell division.
* Elongation.rate (min-1): rate of length elongation for a given cell, measured between birth and division. Data is normalized by population means.
* Age (categorical): 0 = old daughter, 1 = new daughter

#### File: Data\_for\_Fig\_2B.csv

**Description:** Doubling times of mother and da...