Direct surfactin-gramicidin S antagonism supports detoxification in mixed producer cultures of Bacillus subtilis and Aneurinibacillus migulanus.

Antibiotic production as a defence mechanism is a characteristic of a wide variety of organisms. In natural evolutionary adaptation, cellular events such as sporulation, biofilm formation and resistance to antibiotics enable some micro-organisms to survive environmental and antibiotic stress conditions. The two antimicrobial cyclic peptides in this study, gramicidin S (GS) from Aneurinibacillus migulanus and the lipopeptide surfactin (Srf) from Bacillus subtilis, have been shown to affect both membrane and intercellular components of target organisms.