title: Lauryl-poly-L-lysine: A New Antimicrobial Agent?
abstract: The development of multiple antibiotic resistance is a global problem. It is necessary to find new tools whose mechanisms of action differ from those of currently used antibiotics. It is known that fatty acids and cationic polypeptides are able to fight bacteria. Here, we describe the synthesis of fatty acids linked to a polypeptide with antibacterial activity. The linkage of fatty acids to a polypeptide is reported to increase the antibacterial effect of the linked fatty acid in comparison with free fatty acids (FA) or free poly-L-lysine (PLL) or a mixture of both (FA free + PLL free). A number of C6-C18 fatty acids were linked to PLL to obtain new synthetic products. These compounds were assessed in vitro to evaluate their antibacterial activity. Some fatty acid-PLLs showed a good ability to fight bacteria. Their bactericidal activity was evaluated, and, lauryl linked to PLL was found to be the most active product against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This new active component showed a good degree of specificity and reproducibility and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was comparatively good. The antibacterial activity of the lauryl-PLL compound suggests that it is a new and promising antimicrobial agent.
authors.affiliation: Institut pour le Développement de la Recherche en Pathologie Humaine et Thérapeutique (IDRPHT), 33400 Talence, France.
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6969-8932
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Biogam, 33600 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thuault
authors.affiliation: Institut pour le Développement de la Recherche en Pathologie Humaine et Thérapeutique (IDRPHT), 33400 Talence, France.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangas
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroanatomy of the Peptidergic Systems (Lab. 14), Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León (INCYL), 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5677-8266
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coveñas
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM) à ENSCPB, 33600 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thienpont
authors.affiliation: Institut pour le Développement de la Recherche en Pathologie Humaine et Thérapeutique (IDRPHT), 33400 Talence, France ; Laboratoire de l'Intégration du Matériau au Système (IMS) à l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie et de Physique de Bordeaux (ENSCPB), 33600 Pessac, France ; IDRPHT, 200 Avenue Thouars, 33400 Talence, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geffard