title: Bacterial strategies of resistance to antimicrobial peptides.
abstract: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a key component of the host's innate immune system, targeting invasive and colonizing bacteria. For successful survival and colonization of the host, bacteria have a series of mechanisms to interfere with AMP activity, and AMP resistance is intimately connected with the virulence potential of bacterial pathogens. In particular, because AMPs are considered as potential novel antimicrobial drugs, it is vital to understand bacterial AMP resistance mechanisms. This review gives a comparative overview of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strategies of resistance to various AMPs, such as repulsion or sequestration by bacterial surface structures, alteration of membrane charge or fluidity, degradation and removal by efflux pumps.This article is part of the themed issue 'Evolutionary ecology of arthropod antimicrobial peptides'.
authors.affiliation: Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Bacteriology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Hwang-Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Bacteriology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Chih-Iung
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Bacteriology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA motto@niaid.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2222-4115
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007313:Insecta / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D019476:Insect Proteins
keywords: Staphylococcus; antimicrobial peptides; bacterial resistance