@article{2a7c0359da694eb9a602eed011d6401f,
title = "Heterogeneous absorption of antimicrobial peptide LL37 in escherichia coli cells enhances population survivability",
abstract = "Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are broad spectrum antibiotics that selectively target bacteria. Here we investigate the activity of human AMP LL37 against Escherichia coli by integrating quantitative, population and single-cell level experiments with theoretical modeling. We observe an unexpected, rapid absorption and retention of a large number of LL37 peptides by E. coli cells upon the inhibition of their growth, which increases population survivability. This transition occurs more likely in the late stage of cell division cycles. Cultures with high cell density exhibit two distinct subpopulations: a non-growing population that absorb peptides and a growing population that survive owing to the sequestration of the AMPs by others. A mathematical model based on this binary picture reproduces the rather surprising observations, including the increase of the minimum inhibitory concentration with cell density (even in dilute cultures) and the extensive lag in growth introduced by sub-lethal dosages of LL37 peptides.",
author = "Mehdi Snoussi and Talledo, {John Paul} and {Del Rosario}, {Nathan Alexander} and Salimeh Mohammadi and Ha, {Bae Yeun} and Andrej Ko{\v s}mrlj and Sattar Taheri-Araghi",
note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Lorenzo Stella, Gerard Wong, Dana Harmon, Cristian Ruiz-Rueda and Steven Brown for stimulating discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. We thank Siddhartha Sarkar for the help with MATLAB. We acknowledge funding support from the National Institutes of Health grant 1R15GM124640, the Pilot Project grant under 1RL5GM118975, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) grants Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site grant (EEC-1559973), Partnership in Research and Education in Materials (PREM) between the W M Keck Computational Materials Theory Center (CMTC) at California State University, Northridge, and Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) (DMR-1205734), and the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Program through the PCCM (DMR-1420541).National Science Foundation DMR-1205734 John Paul Talledo Andrej Ko{\v s}mrljNational Science Foundation DMR-1420541 John Paul Talledo Andrej Ko{\v s}mrljNational Science Foundation EEC-1559973 Andrej Kosmrlj John Paul TalledoNational Institute of General 1R15GM124640 Sattar Taheri-Araghi Medical SciencesNational Institute of General 1RL5GM118975 Sattar Taheri-Araghi Medical Sciences. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Snoussi et al.",
year = "2018",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.7554/eLife.38174",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "7",
journal = "eLife",
issn = "2050-084X",
publisher = "eLife Sciences Publications",
}