Return to search

Interactions of Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides with Bacterial Membranes and Biofilms

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAPs) offer a viable alternative to conventional antibiotics as they physically disrupt the bacterial membranes, leading to cell lysis and death. However, colonized bacteria often form “biofilms” – characterized by the overproduction of exopolysaccharides - that restrict the penetration of antibiotics; successful antimicrobial agents must evade this exopolysaccharide ‘matrix’ to reach the bacterial membrane. Since the Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm alginate traps CAPs by forming peptide-alginate complexes, the aim of this thesis is to better understand the mechanisms of interaction of CAPs with bacterial membranes and biofilm alginate. Using a series of CAPs designed in our lab derived from the sequence KKKKKK-AAFAAWAAFAA-NH2, we found that hydrophobicity, charge distribution, and amino acid composition of CAPs play important roles in their membrane disruptive power, bioactivities, alginate-binding and alginate-diffusion abilities. These findings suggest routes to an optimal balance of factors in CAP design to allow both biofilm penetration and bacterial membrane destruction.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/33594
Date27 November 2012
CreatorsYin, Lois Menglu
ContributorsDeber, Charles M.
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

Page generated in 0.0019 seconds