Amphiphilic Peptide with Dual Functionality Resists Biofouling

Abstract

Biofouling, the accumulation of organisms on surfaces, can lead to several undesirable phenomena, including hospital-acquired infections, blockage of water purification systems, and food contamination. The solution to the problem should be nontoxic and environmentally friendly, so that it could be applied on different surfaces and could come into contact with food, water, or human tissues. Peptides can provide such a solution, since they are biocompatible and biodegradable materials that can resist biofouling, either by preventing the attachment of organisms to the surface (antifouling) or by killing the bacteria (antimicrobial activity). This paper presents an amphiphilic peptide with antifouling, antimicrobial, and adhesive properties. The peptide adheres to titanium surfaces and inhibits the adhesion of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria to surfaces. In addition, it reduces the growth of bacteria in solution. This peptide has both antifouling and antimicrobial properties, which could be useful in health care systems, food packaging, and other systems that suffer from biocontamination.

Adhesive Antimicrobial Peptides Containing 3,4-Dihydroxy-L-Phenylalanine Residues for Direct One-Step Surface Coating

“…Various coating methods have been used to physically or chemically bind AMPs to the surface of materials, such as implants, catheters, and contact lenses. These methods include layer-by-layer assembly [ 8 ], adsorption [ 9 ], covalent bonding [ 10 , 11 ], and polymer brushing [ 12 , 13 ]. Although these methods facilitate efficient immobilization of peptides, most of these approaches are suitable only for specific surfaces.…”

“…The first step involves creating a stable PD coating layer, and the second is anchoring the AMPs on PD [ 21 ]. Since DOPA contains additional carboxyl groups that can be directly incorporated into the peptide sequence compared to dopamine, recently developed DOPA-containing peptides can coat the surface without any prior treatment [ 9 ]. Although the aforementioned study highlighted the possibility of generating an adhesive anti-fouling peptide by combining DOPA, antimicrobial, and anti-fouling residues, its adhesion and antibacterial activities were not satisfactory.…”

Application of Antimicrobial Peptides on Biomedical Implants: Three Ways to Pursue Peptide Coatings

“…In many cases, the respective antimicrobial peptides are directly fused to specific metal binding peptide motives, which were already described as potent to interact with the individual surface properties. However, in some cases, unnatural amino acids or other functional groups might be coupled to the peptide sequence, too, further supporting the adsorption to the surface of the chosen substrates [27].…”

“…Within their peptide design, DOPA should support the adherence to titanium while multiple lysine residues would bring antimicrobial activity and the fluorinated amino acids antibiofouling properties, respectively. Notably, only one DOPA unit in the middle of the 21 amino acid peptide sequence was needed to achieve adhesion to the titanium surface [27]. After immersion of the peptides, activity against E. coli and S. epidermis was assessed and results showed that the effective concentrations were in the lower micromolar range.…”

“…After immersion of the peptides, activity against E. coli and S. epidermis was assessed and results showed that the effective concentrations were in the lower micromolar range. Since similar peptides were nontoxic against CHO cells [33], the authors expected their newly designed peptides to be applicable not only for treatments in health care, but also for different industries that would benefit from antifouling metal surfaces like water transport facilities or the food industry [27].…”