Differential Effects of Penicillin Binding Protein Deletion on the Susceptibility of Enterococcus faecium to Cationic Peptide Antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Beta-lactam antibiotics sensitize Enterococcus faecium to killing by endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of the innate immune system and daptomycin through mechanisms yet to be elucidated. It has been speculated that beta-lactam inactivation of select E. faecium penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) may play a pivotal role in this sensitization process. To characterize the specific PBP inactivation that may be responsible for these phenotypes, we utilized a previously characterized set of E. faecium PBP knockout mutants to determine the effects of such mutations on the activity of daptomycin and the AMP human cathelicidin (LL-37). Enhanced susceptibility to daptomycin was dependent more on a cumulative effect of multiple PBP deletions than on inactivation of any single specific PBP. Sele

SUBMITTER: Sakoulas G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4576044 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature