Cationic antimicrobial-adapted Escherichia coli K-12 BW25113 isolates

These isolates were created by gradually adapting an Escherichia coli K-12 BW25113 strain to four cationic antimicrobials; benzalkonium (BZK), cetrimide (CET), chlorhexidine (CHX), and colistin (COL). Three replicates were created for each compound, generating BZKR1G40, BZKR2G40, BZKR3G40, CETR1G40, CETR2G40, CETR3G40, CHXR1G20, CHXR2G20, CHXR3G20, COLR1G32, COLR2G32, COLR3G32 as well as an unadapted wild-type (WTG40). At the end of the experiment, the BZK-adapted bacteria were tolerant to 72-144 ug/ml of BZK, the CET-adapted bacteria were tolerant to 240 ug/ml of CET, the CHX-adapted bacteria were tolerant to 4.8-9.6 ug/ml of CHX, and the COL-adapted bacteria were tolerant to >300 ug/ml.