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Comparative Susceptibility and Mechanisms of Resistance to Host Defense Peptides in Daptomycin-Susceptible and Non-Susceptible Clinical Isolates of <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>

Host defense peptides (HDPs) provide innate immune defense against invasive S. aureus infection. Recent studies suggest potential cross-resistance between HDPs and the lipopeptide antibiotic, daptomycin (DAP). Isolates that exhibit DAP non-susceptible phenotypes may have virulence advantages and pose challenges to effective treatment. The current studies were performed to compare the efficacies and mechanisms of action of native and engineered HDPs vs. clinical S. aureus strain pairs which differed in susceptibility to daptomycin in vitro. Ultrasensitive radial diffusion and multi-colored flow cytometry were employed to analyze distinctive susceptibilities and mechanisms of resistance, respectively. Overall efficacies were greater vs. DAP-susceptible (DSSA) vs. DAP non-susceptible (DNSA) S. aureus isolates for some but not all HDPs. Efficacy profiles of certain HDPs were influenced by pH, regardless of whether the particular isolate was DSSA or DNSA phenotype. Mechanistically, DSSA and DNSA isolates differed in responses to specific HDPs regarding cell energetics, membrane permeability, cytoplasm membrane turnover, and cell death protease induction. DSSA and DNSA strain pairs exhibited non-identical mechanisms of resistance to HDPs. At pH 7.5, as expected, HDPs hNP-1 and RP-1 exerted significantly greater efficacy on susceptible control strain ISP479C vs. its resistant counterpart ISP479R. These data suggest different mechanisms of HDP resistance are active in differing DNSA strains. These preliminary results are under further investigation, as are the genetic determinant(s) that may emerge during infection. If substantiated, these findings would imply multiple modes of survival of S. aureus in the face of DAP or HDPs.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:CLAREMONT/oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cmc_theses-2348
Date01 January 2016
CreatorsJohnson, Colin Wolcott
PublisherScholarship @ Claremont
Source SetsClaremont Colleges
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceCMC Senior Theses
Rights© 2015 Colin Wolcott Johnson

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