The cost of resistance to colistin in Acinetobacter baumannii: a proteomic perspective

Colistin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii, a pathogen of clinical concern, was induced in the susceptible strain ATCC 19606 by growth under increasing pressure of the antibiotic, the only drug universally active against multi-resistant clinical strains. In 2-D difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) experiments, 35 proteins with differences in expression between both phenotypes were identified, most of them appearing as down regulated in the colistin-resistant strain. These include outer membrane (OM) proteins, chaperones, protein biosynthesis factors, and metabolic enzymes, all suggesting substantial loss of biological fitness in the resistant phenotype, as substantiated by complementary experiments in the absence of colistin. Results shed light on the scarcity of widespread clinical outbreaks for resistant phenotypes.