o:1695 Antimicrobial activity of cationic antimicrobial peptides against stationary phase bacteria en Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are ancient antimicrobial weapons used by multicellular organisms as components of their innate immune defenses. Because of the antibiotic crisis, AMPs have also become candidates for developing new drugs. Here, we show that five different AMPs of different classes are effective against non-dividing Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. By comparison, three conventional antibiotics from the main three classes of antibiotics poorly kill non-dividing bacteria at clinically relevant doses. The killing of fast-growing bacteria by AMPs is faster than that of slow-dividing bacteria and, in some cases, without any difference. Still, non-dividing bacteria are effectively killed over time. Our results point to a general property of AMPs, which might explain why selection has favored AMPs in the evolution of metazoan immune systems. The ability to kill non-dividing cells is another reason that makes AMPs exciting candidates for drug development. Cell-Density; Susceptibility; Efficacy 1552099 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1029084 2023-06-07T10:54:09.229Z 44 yes 46 Alexandro Rodríguez-Rojas University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna / Freie Universität Berlin Jens Rolff Freie Universität Berlin / Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research person application/pdf 239031 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:1695 no yes 16 70 1552253 Frontiers in Microbiology 13 Frontiers Media Sa 2022