Starvation- and Stationary-phase-induced resistance to the antimicrobial peptide polymyxin B in Salmonella typhimurium is RpoS (sigma(S)) independent and occurs through both phoP-dependent and -independent pathways.

A common stress encountered by Salmonella serovars involves exposure to membrane-permeabilizing antimicrobial peptides and proteins such as defensins, cationic antibacterial proteins, and polymyxins. We wanted to determine if starvation induces cross-resistance to the membrane-permeabilizing antimicrobial peptide polymyxin B (PmB). We report here that starved and stationary-phase (Luria-Bertani [LB] medium) cells exhibited ca. 200- to 1,500-fold-higher (cross-)resistance to a 60-min PmB challenge than log-phase cells. Genetic analysis indicates that this PmB resistance involves both phoP-dependent and -independent pathways. Furthermore, both pathways were sigma(S) independent, indicating that they are different from other known sigma(S) -dependent cross-resistance mechanisms. Additionally, both pathways were important for PmB resistance early during C starvation and for cells in stationary phase in LB medium. However, only the phoP-independent pathway was important for P-starvation-induced PmB resistance and the sustained PmB resistance seen in 24-h-C-starved (and N-starved) or stationary-phase cells in LB medium. The results indicate the presence of an rpoS- and phoP-independent pathway important to starvation- and stationary-phase-induced resistance to membrane-permeabilizing antimicrobial agents.