Positively charged antimicrobial peptides with membrane-damaging activity are produced
by animals and humans as components of their innate immunity against bacterial infections
and also by many bacteria to inhibit competing microorganisms. Staphylococcus aureus and
Staphylococcus xylosus, which tolerate high concentrations of several antimicrobial
peptides, were mutagenized to identify genes responsible for this insensitivity. Several
mutants with increased sensitivity were obtained, which exhibited an altered structure of …