Antimicrobial Peptide Exposure Selects for Resistant and Fit Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Mutants That Show Cross-Resistance to Antibiotics

Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an increasingly relevant multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterium found, for example, in people with cystic fibrosis and associated with other respiratory infections and underlying pathologies. The infections caused by this nosocomial pathogen are difficult to treat due to the intrinsic resistance of this bacterium against a broad number of antibiotics. Therefore, new treatment options are needed, and considering the growing interest in using AMPs as alternative therapeutic compounds and the restricted number of antibiotics active against S. maltophilia , we addressed the potential for development of AMP resistance, the genetic mechanisms involved, and the physiological effects that acquisition of AMP resistance has on this opportunistic pathogen.