Ramamourthy Gopal

Applications of circular dichroism for structural analysis of gelatin and antimicrobial peptides.

Circular dichroism (CD) is a useful technique for monitoring changes in the conformation of antimicrobial peptides or gelatin. In this study, interactions between cationic peptides and gelatin were observed without affecting the triple helical content of the gelatin, which was more strongly affected by anionic surfactant. The peptides did not adopt a secondary structure in the presence of aqueous solution or Tween 80, but a peptide secondary structure formed upon the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The peptides bound to the phosphate group of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and displayed an alpha-helical conformation while (KW)4 adopted a folded conformation. Further, the peptides did not specifically interact with the fungal cell wall components of mannan or laminarin. Tryptophan blue shift assay indicated that these peptides interacted with SDS, LPS, and gelatin but not with Tween 80, mannan, or laminarin. The peptides also displayed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa without cytotoxicity against HaCaT cells at MIC, except for HPA3NT3-analog peptide. In this study, we used a CD spectroscopic method to demonstrate the feasibility of peptide characterization in numerous environments. The CD method can thus be used as a screening method of gelatin-peptide interactions for use in wound healing applications.

Synergistic Effects and Antibiofilm Properties of Chimeric Peptides against Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Strains

ABSTRACT The increasing prevalence of drug-resistant pathogens highlights the need to identify novel antibiotics. Here we investigated the efficacies of four new antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) for potential drug development. The antibacterial activities, synergistic effects, and antibiofilm properties of the four chimeric AMPs were tested against Acinetobacter baumannii, an emerging Gram-negative, nosocomial, drug-resistant pathogen. Nineteen A. baumannii strains resistant to ampicillin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, tobramycin, and erythromycin were isolated at a hospital from patients with cholelithiasis. All four peptides exhibited significant antibacterial effects (MIC = 3.12 to 12.5 μM) against all 19 strains, whereas five commercial antibiotics showed little or no activity against the same pathogens. An exception was polymyxin, which was effective against all of the strains tested. Each of the peptides showed synergy against one or more strains when administered in combination with cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, or erythromycin. The peptides also exhibited an ability to prevent biofilm formation, which was not seen with cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, or erythromycin, though polymyxin also inhibited biofilm formation. Indeed, when administered in combination with ciprofloxacin, the AMP HPMA exerted a potent synergistic effect against A. baumannii biofilm formation. Collectively, our findings indicate that the AMPs tested have no cytotoxicity but possess potent antibacterial and antibiofilm activities and may act synergistically with commercial antibiotics.

Effect of repetitive lysine-tryptophan motifs on the bactericidal activity of antimicrobial peptides

Previous studies identified lysine- and tryptophan-rich sequences within various cationic antimicrobial peptides. In the present study, we synthesized a series of peptides composed of lysine (K)-tryptophan (W) repeats (KW)n (where n equals 2, 3, 4 or 5) with amidation of the C-terminal to increase cationicity. We found that increases in chain length up to (KW)4 enhanced the peptides’ antibacterial activity; (KW)5 exhibited somewhat less bactericidal activity than (KW)4. Cytotoxicity, measured as lysis of human red blood cells, also increased with increasing chain length. With (KW)5, reduced antibacterial activity and increased cytotoxicity correlated with greater hydrophobicity and self-aggregation in the aqueous environment. The peptides acted by inducing rapid collapse of the bacterial transmembrane potential and induction of membrane permeability. The mode of interaction of the peptides and the phosphate groups of lipopolysaccharide was dependent upon the peptides’ ability to permeate the membrane. Longer peptides [(KW)4 and (KW)5] but not shorter peptides [(KW)2 and (KW)3] strongly bound and partially inserted into negatively charged, anionic lipid bilayers. These longer peptides also induced membrane permeabilization and aggregation of lipid vesicles. The peptides had a disordered structure in aqueous solution, and only (KW)4 and (KW)5 displayed a folded conformation on lipid membranes. Moreover, (KW)4 destroyed and agglutinated bacterial cells, demonstrating its potential as an antimicrobial agent. Collectively, the results show (KW)4 to be the most efficacious peptide in the (KW)n series, exhibiting strong antibacterial activity with little cytotoxicity.

Antibiotic and synergistic effect of Leu–Lys rich peptide against antibiotic resistant microorganisms isolated from patients with cholelithiasis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has eventually developed resistance against flomoxef sodium, isepamicin and cefpiramide. Therefore, in this study, the antibacterial activity and synergistic effects of the amphipathic-derived P5-18mer antimicrobial peptide were tested against pathogens associated with cholelithiasis that have developed resistance against commonly used antibiotics. The results were then compared with the activities of the amphipathic-derived peptide, P5-18mer, melittin and common antibiotics. Growth inhibition of planktonic bacteria was tested using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS). The bactericidal activity of the antimicrobial peptides was measured using time-kill curves. Synergistic effects were evaluated by testing the effects of P5-18mer alone and in combination with flomoxef sodium, isepamicin or cefpiramide at 0.5xMIC. P5-18mer peptide displayed strong activity against pathogens and flomoxef sodium, isepamicin and cefpiramide-resistant bacteria cell lines obtained from a patient with gallstones; however, it did not exert cytotoxicity against the human keratinocyte HaCat cell line. In addition, the results of time-kill curves indicated that P5-18mer peptide exerted bactericidal activity against four strains of P. aeruginosa. Finally, the use of P5-18mer and antibiotics exerted synergistic effects against cell lines that were resistant to commonly used antibiotics. These results indicate that this class of peptides has a rapid microbicidal effect on flomoxef sodium, isepamicin and cefpiramide-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa. Therefore, these peptides may be used as a lead drug for the treatment of acquired pathogens from patients with cholelithiasis who are affected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Antifungal Activity of (KW)n or (RW)n Peptide against Fusarium solani and Fusarium oxysporum

The presence of lysine (Lys) or arginine (Arg) and tryptophan (Trp) are important for the antimicrobial effects of cationic peptides. Therefore, we designed and synthesized a series of antimicrobial peptides with various numbers of Lys (or Arg) and Trp repeats [(KW and RW)n-NH2, where n equals 2, 3, 4, or 5]. Antifungal activities of these peptides increased with chain length. Light microscopy demonstrated that longer peptides (n = 4, 5) strongly inhibited in vitro growth of Fusarium solani, and Fusarium oxysporum, at 4–32 μM. Furthermore, longer peptides displayed potent fungicidal activities against a variety of agronomical important filamentous fungi, including F. solani and F. oxysporum, at their minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs). However, RW series peptides showed slightly higher fungicidal activities than KW peptides against the two strains. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that these short peptides would be good candidates for use as synthetic or transgenic antifungal agents.

Effect of Leucine and Lysine substitution on the antimicrobial activity and evaluation of the mechanism of the HPA3NT3 analog peptide

In this study, a HPA3NT3‐analog (FKKLKKLFKKILKLK‐NH2) peptide was designed. In this analog, two Trp residues (positions 12, 14) were replaced with Leu, and Arg and Asn (positions 3, 13) were replaced with Lys to investigate the role of amino acid substitution and increased cationicity on antimicrobial and hemolytic activities. In fungal and Gram‐negative bacterial cells, HPA3NT3‐analog activity was unchanged or slightly enhanced when compared to the HPA3NT3 peptide. In addition, a twofold decrease in activity against Gram‐positive bacteria was observed. The HPA3NT3‐analog also induced less hemolysis (4.2%) than the HPA3NT3 peptide (71%) at 200 µM. Circular dichroism (CD) spectra revealed that the HPA3NT3‐analog peptide had an unordered structure in buffer and egg yolk L‐2‐phosphatidyl choline (EYPC), but adapted an α‐helical conformation in 50% 2,2,2‐trifluoroethanol (TFE) and negatively charged egg yolk L‐2‐phosphatidyl glycerol (EYPG), while the parent peptide showed an ordered structure in the EYPC. Additionally, the HPA3NT3‐analog peptide induced the leakage of calcein from egg yolk L‐2‐phosphatidyl ethanolamine (EYPE)/EYPG (7:3 w/w) large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs); however, the activity was slightly weaker than that of the HPA3NT3 peptide. The molecular dynamics (MD) structures revealed that the amino acid substitutions induced a significant variation in peptide structure. These results suggest that the substitutions of Arg and Asn with Lys and two Trp with Leu resulted in small changes in HPA3NT3‐analog activity and significant decreases in hemolytic activity. Copyright

A Proline-Hinge Alters the Characteristics of the Amphipathic α-helical AMPs

HP (2–20) is a 19-aa, amphipathic, α-helical peptide with antimicrobial properties that was derived from the N-terminus of Helicobacter pylori ribosomal protein L1. We previously showed that increasing the net hydrophobicity of HP (2–20) by substituting Trp for Gln17 and Asp19 (Anal 3) increased the peptides antimicrobial activity. In hydrophobic medium, Anal 3 forms an amphipathic structure consisting of an N-terminal random coil region (residues 2–5) and an extended helical region (residues 6–20). To investigate the structure-activity relationship of Anal 3, we substituted Pro for Glu9 (Anal 3-Pro) and then examined the new peptides three-dimensional structure, antimicrobial activity and mechanism of action. Anal 3-Pro had an α-helical structure in the presence of trifluoroethanol (TFE) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). NMR spectroscopic analysis of Anal 3-Pros tertiary structure in SDS micelles confirmed that the kink potential introduced by Pro10 was responsible for the helix distortion. We also found that Anal 3-Pro exhibited about 4 times greater antimicrobial activity than Anal 3. Fluorescence activated flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence microscopy showed that incorporating a Pro-hinge into Anal 3 markedly reduced its membrane permeability so that it accumulated in the cytoplasm without remaining in the cell membrane. To investigate the translocation mechanism, we assessed its ability to release of FITC-dextran. The result showed Anal 3-Pro created a pore <1.8 nm in diameter, which is similar to buforin II. Notably, scanning electron microscopic observation of Candida albicans revealed that Anal 3-Pro and buforin II exert similar effects on cell membranes, whereas magainin 2 exerts a different, more damaging, effect. In addition, Anal 3-Pro assumed a helix-hinge-helix structure in the presence of biological membranes and formed micropores in both bacterial and fungal membranes, through which it entered the cytoplasm and tightly bound to DNA. These results indicate that the bending region of Anal 3- Pro peptide is prerequisite for effective antibiotic activity and may facilitate easy penetration of the lipid bilayers of the cell membrane.

Design and membrane-disruption mechanism of charge-enriched AMPs exhibiting cell selectivity, high-salt resistance, and anti-biofilm properties.

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are essential components of the innate immune system, offering protection against invading pathogenic bacteria. In nature, AMPs serve as antibiotics with broad-spectrum antimicrobial and anti-biofilm properties. However, low effective stability in high-salt environments and physiological instability in biological membranes limit the applicability of naturally occurring AMPs as novel therapeutics. We therefore designed short synthetic cationic peptides by substituting key residues in myxinidin, an AMP derived from the epidermal mucus of hagfish, with lysine (Lys, K), arginine (Arg, R), and tryptophan (Trp, W). The resultant myxinidin analogs exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant strains, even under high-salt conditions. Moreover, these peptides showed high binding affinity for both lipopolysaccharides and lipoteichoic acids and inhibited biofilm formation by most bacteria, but did not cause significant lysis of human red blood cells and were not cytotoxic to normal human keratinocytes. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that myxinidin and its analogs assumed α-helical or β-sheet structures within artificial liposomes and bacterial membranes. In addition, bacterial killing and membrane permeation experiments demonstrated that the myxinidin analogs permeated through bacterial membranes, leading to cytoplasmic disruption and cell death. Taken together, these findings suggest myxinidin analogs may be promising candidate antibiotic agents for therapeutic application against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Anti-Microbial, Anti-Biofilm Activities and Cell Selectivity of the NRC-16 Peptide Derived from Witch Flounder, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus

Previous studies had identified novel antimicrobial peptides derived from witch flounder. In this work, we extended the search for the activity of peptide that showed antibacterial activity on clinically isolated bacterial cells and bacterial biofilm. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was obtained from otitis media and cholelithiasis patients, while Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from otitis media patients. We found that synthetic peptide NRC-16 displays antimicrobial activity and is not sensitive to salt during its bactericidal activity. Interestingly, this peptide also led to significant inhibition of biofilm formation at a concentration of 4–16 μM. NRC-16 peptide is able to block biofilm formation at concentrations just above its minimum inhibitory concentration while conventional antibiotics did not inhibit the biofilm formation except ciprofloxacin and piperacillin. It did not cause significant lysis of human RBC, and is not cytotoxic to HaCaT cells and RAW264.7 cells, thereby indicating its selective antimicrobial activity. In addition, the peptide’s binding and permeation activities were assessed by tryptophan fluorescence, calcein leakage and circular dichroism using model mammalian membranes composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC), PC/cholesterol (CH) and PC/sphingomyelin (SM). These experiments confirmed that NRC-16 does not interact with any of the liposomes but the control peptide melittin did. Taken together, we found that NRC-16 has potent antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities with less cytotoxicity, and thus can be considered for treatment of microbial infection in the future.

Effect of Repetitive Lysine-Tryptophan Motifs on the Eukaryotic Membrane

In a previous study, we synthesized a series of peptides containing simple sequence repeats, (KW)n–NH2 (n = 2,3,4 and 5) and determined their antimicrobial and hemolytic activities, as well as their mechanism of antimicrobial action. However, (KW)5 showed undesirable cytotoxicity against RBC cells. In order to identify the mechanisms behind the hemolytic and cytotoxic activities of (KW)5, we measured the ability of these peptides to induce aggregation of liposomes. In addition, their binding and permeation activities were assessed by Trp fluorescence, calcein leakage and circular dichrorism using artificial phospholipids that mimic eukaryotic liposomes, including phosphatidylcholine (PC), PC/sphingomyelin (SM) (2:1, w/w) and PC/cholesterol (CH) (2:1, w/w). Experiments confirmed that only (KW)5 induced aggregation of all liposomes; it formed much larger aggregates with PC:CH (2:1, w/w) than with PC or PC:SM (2:1, w/w). Longer peptide (KW)5, but not (KW)3 or (KW)4, strongly bound and partially inserted into PC:CH compared to PC or PC:SM (2:1, w/w). Calcein release experiments showed that (KW)5 induced calcein leakage from the eukaryotic membrane. Greater calcein leakage was induced by (KW)5 from PC:CH than from PC:SM (2:1, w/w) or PC, whereas (KW)4 did not induce calcein leakage from any of the liposomes. Circular dichroism measurements indicated that (KW)5 showed higher conformational transition compared to (KW)4 due to peptide-liposome interactions. Taken together, our results suggest that (KW)5 reasonably mediates the aggregation and permeabilization of eukaryotic membranes, which could in turn explain why (KW)5 displays efficient hemolytic activity.