Adaptation of Mycoplasmas to Antimicrobial Peptides: Development of Melittin Resistance in Acholeplasma laidlawii Is Associated with Changes in Genomic and Proteomic Profiles and in Virulence.

For the first time it is shown that the development of resistance to melittin in Acholeplasma laidlawii, a mycoplasma that is widely spread in nature and that is the main contaminant of cell cultures and vaccines, is associated with significant changes in the genomic profile, in cellular and vesicular proteomes, as well as in virulence.

Data on proteomic profiling of cells and extracellular vesicles of the melittin-resistant Acholeplasma laidlawii strain.

Acholeplasma laidlawii (class Mollicutes), a major contaminant of cell cultures, quickly adapts to various classes of antimicrobials, including antimicrobial peptides. The extracellular vesicles of this bacterium can play a significant role in the development of drug-resistance Chernov et al., 2018. We compared the cellular and vesicular proteomes of A. laidlawii strains with differing susceptibility to melittin (an antimicrobial peptide from bee venom), the genomes of which we have previously sequenced. We extracted soluble proteins from cells and extracellular vesicles of the A. laidlawii PG8RMel strain showing an increased resistance to melittin, and compared them with the cellular proteome and a previously obtained vesicular proteome of the original (reference) A. laidlawii PG8B strain Chernov et al., 2014. The cellular proteome profile of the A. laidlawii strains differing in susceptibility to melittin was determined by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Here we present the cellular proteins that were differentially expressed. The vesicular proteome profile was determined by using one-dimensional electrophoresis and chromatography-mass spectrometry. A list of the extracellular vesicles proteins of the melittin-resistant A. laidlawii strain is presented here.