title: Design and Synthesis of a Novel Cationic Peptide with Potent and Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity.
abstract: Antibacterial and antifungal peptides have increasingly been used to combat the antibiotic-resistant microbes in recent years. KW-13, a novel cationic α-helical antibacterial peptide consisting of 13 amino acid residues, was designed and chemically synthesized. The peptide has a net charge of +6 with a total hydrophobic ratio of 38%. The antibacterial experiments revealed that KW-13 strongly inhibited the growth of human pathogenic bacteria with minimal inhibitory concentrations of 4 and 16 μg/mL for Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively, while the hemolytic assay showed that this peptide did not destroy human red blood cells in vitro. Scanning electron microscopy imaging of Escherichia coli confirmed that KW-13 can damage the membrane of bacterial cells. Thus, this peptide could be a potential candidate for the treatment of infectious diseases.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou 450053, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tong Jia Street, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tong Jia Street, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000254:growth & development*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides