Engineering the interaction of short antimicrobial peptides with bacterial barriers

Abstract

While the rise of superbugs and new resistance mechanisms continues decreasing the effectiveness of classical antiobiotics, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are emerging as a new class of antimicrobials. Still, several drawbacks...

Conformational control of antimicrobial peptide amphiphilicity: consequences for boosting membrane interactions and antimicrobial effects of photocatalytic TiO2 nanoparticles

“…15,16 At the same time, however, cationic NPs are frequently toxic to human cells. 33,38,39 Considering that AMPs can be employed to achieve cationic surface modification, while also displaying selectivity between bacteria and human cells, 4,5,40 these have recently attracted interest as nanomaterial coatings in combatting infection. [40][41][42][43] Although such coatings may potentially be interesting for photocatalytic NPs, 3,41 the situation is more complex compared to nonphotocatalytic NPs.…”

“…33,38,39 Considering that AMPs can be employed to achieve cationic surface modification, while also displaying selectivity between bacteria and human cells, 4,5,40 these have recently attracted interest as nanomaterial coatings in combatting infection. [40][41][42][43] Although such coatings may potentially be interesting for photocatalytic NPs, 3,41 the situation is more complex compared to nonphotocatalytic NPs. For example, dense cationic coatings could prevent light-generated free electrons and holes from reaching the aqueous solution surrounding the NPs, therefore being unable to react with water, dissolved oxygen, and oxygencontaining solutes to form ROS.…”