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Antimicrobial peptides are ubiquitous in nature and provide natural defense against bacterial pathogens, including as components of the human innate immune system. Their broad repertoires of spectrum and mechanism of action render them favorable to harness as antimicrobial therapeutics. Whether bacteria have cross-susceptibility (or cross-resistance) to both antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides has been questioned.
Now, researchers have examined the susceptibility of Escherichia coli strains to 24 structurally and functionally diverse antimicrobial peptides in vitro. They found that antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli demonstrated collateral susceptibility (increased susceptibility) to some antimicrobial peptides. Collateral susceptibi…