Mechanisms and Fitness Costs of Resistance to Antimicrobial Peptides LL-37, CNY100HL and Wheat Germ Histones
To evolve bacterial resistance to antimicrobial peptides during a simple laboratory experiment. We succeed in isolating antimicrobial peptide (AMP) resistant Salmonella typhimurium LT2 mutants by serially passaging several independent bacterial lineages in progressively increasing concentrations of LL-37, CNY100HL and Wheat Germ Histones. Significant AMP resistance developed in 15/18 independent bacterial lineages. Our data suggests that resistance to antimicrobial peptides can develop rapidly through mechanisms that confer cross-resistance to several AMPs.