Antibacterial peptide acylation, which mimics the structure of the natural lipopeptide polymyxin B, increases antimicrobial and endotoxin-neutralizing activities. The interaction of the lactoferricin-derived peptide LF11 and its N-terminally acylated analogue, lauryl-LF11, with different chemotypes of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS Re, Ra and smooth S form) was investigated by biophysical me...

We determined the prevalence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance mechanisms among non-Typhi Salmonella spp. isolated from humans, food animals, and retail meat in the United States in 2007. Six isolates collected from humans harbored aac(6')Ib-cr or a qnr gene. Most prevalent was qnrS1. No animal or retail meat isolates harbored a plasmid-mediated mechanism.

Aurein 1.2 is a 13-residue amphipathic peptide with antibacterial and anticancer activity. Aurein1.2 and its retro analog were synthesized to study the activity of the peptides in relation to their structure. The antibacterial test result showed the retro-analog is inactive. The secondary structural analysis by CD spectra indicated that both of the peptides at TFE/Water adopt alpha-helical conf...

The discovery and therapeutic use of antibiotics made a major contribution to the reduction of human morbidity and mortality. However, the growing resistance to antibiotics has become a matter of huge concern. In this study we aimed to develop an innovative approach to treat bacterial infections utilizing two components: the human antibacterial peptide β-defensin-3 (BD3) and the bacterial prote...

Introduction: Bacterial antibiotic resistance has become one of the biggest threats to global health. In the United States alone, at least 2 million cases of illness and 23,000 of deaths are caused by antibioticresistant bacteria annually. The overuse of antibiotics is the most important factor responsible to the development of antibiotic resistance around the world [1]. To overcome bacterial d...

Protamine was investigated for its antibacterial activity against the periodontal pathogens, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. We determined the minimum inhibitory concentrations of protamine and its hydrolysate and their bactericidal activity. Protamine inhibited the growth of all periodontopathic bacteria tested on agar plates. Protamin...

Anti-lipopolysaccharide factor (ALF) is a small protein with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, which has potential application in the disease control. Previously, we isolated seven ALF isoforms from the Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis. In the present study, their distributions in tissues of shrimp were analyzed and the data showed that different isoforms had different expression pr...

Coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to study the insertion of cyclic peptide nanotubes into cell membranes and to examine whether cyclic peptide nanotubes can function as an ion channel and thereby as an antibacterial agent. To do so, the two coarse-grained (CG) models for lipid molecules and for proteins developed by Marrink et al. (J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108,...

Magnesium (Mg) has mechanical properties similar to human bones and Mg alloy is considered ideal medical implant material. However, the high velocity of degradation inside inner environment severely hampers usage alloys. In this study, caerin peptide 1.9 (F3) a modified sequence 1.1 (F1) with anti-bacterial activity, were covalently immobilised on surface alloys by plasma chemical click reactio...