In this article, a series of modifications were made on an antimicrobial peptide F2,5,12W, including altering the amino acid sequence, introducing cysteine and other typical amino acids, developing peptide dimers via disulfide bonds, and conjugating with mPEG, in order to enhance the antimicrobial activity, plasma stability, and reduce the hemolytic activity of peptides. The results showed that mPEG conjugation could significantly improve the plasma stability and reduce the hemolytic activity of peptides, while the antimicrobial activity decreased meanwhile. However, altering the sequence of the peptide without changing its amino acid composition had little impact on its antimicrobial activity and plasma stability. The introduction of cysteine enhanced the plasma stability of peptides conspicuously, but at the same time, the increased hydrophobicity of peptides increased their hemolysis. The antimicrobial mechanism and cytotoxicity of the peptides with relatively high antimicrobial activity were also studied. In general, this study provided some ideas for the rational design and structure optimization of antimicrobial peptides.

Triterpene sapogenins are a group of biologically active compounds with antibacterial activity. However, the limited solubility and poor bioavailability of triterpene sapogenins restrict their therapeutic application. Polyarginine peptides are small cationic peptides with high affinities for multiple negatively charged cell membranes and possess moderate antibacterial activities. In this study, we designed and synthesized a series of sapogenin-polyarginine conjugates in which the triterpene sapogenin moiety was covalently appended to the positively charged polyarginine via click chemistry. A clear synergistic effect was found, and the conjugates exhibited potent and selective antibacterial activity against Gram-positive strains. Among them, BAc-R3 was the most promising compound, which was also proven to be nontoxic toward mammalian cells as well as stable in plasma. The mechanism of BAc-R3 primarily involves an interaction with the bacterial membrane, similar to that of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). This scaffold design opens an avenue for the further development of novel antibiotics comprised of the combination of a peptide and a natural product.