A polyalanine peptide derived from polar fish with anti-infectious activities

Resumo

Due to the growing concern about antibiotic-resistant microbial infections, increasing support has been given to new drug discovery programs. A promising alternative to counter bacterial infections includes the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which have emerged as model molecules for rational design strategies. Here we focused on the study of Pa-MAP 1.9, a rationally designed AMP derived from the polar fish Pleuronectes americanus. Pa-MAP 1.9 was active against Gram-negative planktonic bacteria and biofilms, without being cytotoxic to mammalian cells. By using AFM, leakage assays, CD spectroscopy and in silico tools, we found that Pa-MAP 1.9 may be acting both on intracellular targets and on the bacterial surface, also being more efficient at interacting with anionic LUVs mimicking Gram-negative bacterial surface, where this peptide adopts α-helical conformations, than cholesterol-enriched LUVs mimicking mammalian cells. Thus, as bacteria present varied physiological features that favor antibiotic-resistance, Pa-MAP 1.9 could be a promising candidate in the development of tools against infections caused by pathogenic bacteria.

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CARDOSO, Marlon H. et al. A polyalanine peptide derived from polar fish with anti-infectious activities. Scientific Reports, London, v. 6, e21385, 2016. DOI: 10.1038/srep21385. Disponível em: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21385. Acesso em: 16 fev. 2024.