Regulation of ribosome hibernation controls Legionella survival, virulence, antibiotics tolerance, and phenotypic heterogeneity

Ribosome hibernation downregulates energy-intensive translational activity in many bacteria upon encountering adverse conditions. However, little is known about this process in Legionella pneumophila. We investigated the role of the Legionella pneumophila encoded homologs of LhpF, RaiA, RsfS, and the GTPase HflX in survival, virulence, antibiotics tolerance, and phenotypic heterogeneity using single and double deletion mutants.