title: Effects of Cyclic vs. Acyclic Hydrophobic Subunits on the Chemical Structure and Biological Properties of Nylon-3 Co-Polymers.
abstract: Nylon-3 co-polymers containing both hydrophobic and cationic subunits can mimic the activity profile of host-defense peptides, if subunit identity and proportion are carefully selected. These sequence- and stereo-random co-polymers inhibit bacterial growth at relatively low concentrations, apparently via disruption of bacterial membranes, but they are relatively non-disruptive toward eukaryotic cell membranes (low hemolytic activity). In all previous examples, the hydrophobic subunits have contained cycloalkyl groups that incorporate the backbone Cα-Cβ bond. Here we have explored the effects of using analogous acyclic hydrophobic subunits. The results indicate that the replacing cyclic with acyclic hydrophobic subunits has a modest influence on biological properties. This influence appears to arise from differences in subunit flexibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Saswata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Runhui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Justin J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Zvi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hayouka
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Rodney A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weisblum
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Kristyn S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
authors.forename: Samuel H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Gellman