Download MendeleyDesign and evaluation of tadpole-like conformational antimicrobial peptides.
Tang, Z., Jiang, W., Li, S., Huang, X., Yang, Y., Chen, X., Qiu, J., Xiao, C., Xie, Y., Zhang, X., Li, J., Verma, C.S., He, Y., Yang, A.(2023) Commun Biol 6: 1177-1177
- PubMed: 37980400 Search on PubMedSearch on PubMed Central
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05560-0
- Primary Citation Related Structures:
8HVS - PubMed Abstract:
Antimicrobial peptides are promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Herein, we report a class of "tadpole-like" peptides consisting of an amphipathic α-helical head and an aromatic tail. A structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of "tadpole-like" temporin-SHf and its analogs revealed that increasing the number of aromatic residues in the tail, introducing Arg to the α-helical head and rearranging the peptide topology dramatically increased antimicrobial activity. Through progressive structural optimization, we obtained two peptides, HT2 and RI-HT2, which exhibited potent antimicrobial activity, no hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity, and no propensity to induce resistance. NMR and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that both peptides indeed adopted "tadpole-like" conformations. Fluorescence experiments and electron microscopy confirmed the membrane targeting mechanisms of the peptides. Our studies not only lead to the discovery of a series of ultrashort peptides with potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities, but also provide a new strategy for rational design of novel "tadpole-like" antimicrobial peptides.
- Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China.
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