Updated publication reference for PubMed record(s): 26892159. Drug resistance and tolerance eliminate the therapeutic potential of antibiotics against pathogens. Antibiotic tolerance by bacterial biofilms often leads to persistent infections, but its mechanisms are unclear. To uncover antibiotic tolerance mechanisms in biofilms, we applied stable isotope labeling with amino acids (SILAC) proteomics to selectively label and compare proteomes of sensitive and tolerant subpopulations of biofilms formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa towards colistin, a 'last-resort' antibiotic against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens. Migration was essential in forming colistin-tolerant biofilm subpopulations, as colistin-tolerant cell-aggregates migrated with type IV pili, onto the top of killed biofilm. The colistin-tolerant cell-aggregates employed quorum sensing (QS) to initiate the formation of fresh colistin-tolerant subpopulations, highlighting multicellular behavior in antibiotic tolerance development. Erythromycin treatment which inhibits motility and QS, boosted biofilm eradication by colistin. This novel ‘-omics’ strategy to study antibiotic tolerant cells provides key insights for designing novel treatments against infections unsuppressed by conventional antimicrobials.