Thermodynamics of antimicrobial peptide JCpep8 binding to living Staphylococcus aureus as a pseudo-stationary phase in capillary electrochromatography and consequences for antimicrobial activity

Selectively screen the antibacterial peptide from the hydrolysates of highland barley

Highland barley is one of the most important industrial crops in Tibetan plateau. Previous research indicated that highland barley has many medical functions. In this work, the antibacterial abilities of highland barley were investigated. The protein solutions hydrolyzed by trypsin for 4 h exhibited the highest antibacterial activity. An antibacterial peptide, barleycin, was screened and purified by magnetic liposome extraction combining with the protein profiles of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Structure, characterization, and safety evaluation of barleycin were further investigated. Amino acids sequence was determined as Lys-Ile-Ile-Ile-Pro-Pro-Leu-Phe-His by N-sequencing. Circular dichroism spectra indicated the a-helix conformation of barleycin. The activity spectrum included Bacillus subtilis, Staphylcoccus aureus, Listeria innocua and Escherichia coli and the MICs were from 4 to 16 μg/mL. Safety evaluations with cytotoxicity and hemolytic suggested this antibacterial peptide could be considered as safe at MICs. Finally, mode of action of barleycin on sensitive cells was primarily studied. The results suggested the damage of cell membrane.

Use of the Antimicrobial Peptide Sublancin with Combined Antibacterial and Immunomodulatory Activities To Protect against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Mice

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the major pathogen causing serious hospital infections worldwide. With the emergence and rapid spread of drug-resistant bacteria, there is extraordinary interest in antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as promising candidates for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Sublancin, a glycosylated AMP produced by Bacillus subtilis 168, has been reported to possess protective activity against bacterial infection. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of sublancin in the prevention of MRSA ATCC43300 intraperitoneal infection in mice. We determined that sublancin had a minimal inhibitory concentration of 15 μM against MRSA ATCC43300. The antimicrobial action of sublancin involved the destruction of the bacterial cell wall. Dosing of mice with sublancin greatly alleviated (p < 0.05) the bacterial burden caused by MRSA intraperitoneal infection and considerably reduced the mortality and weight loss (19.2 ± 0.62 g vs 20.6 ± 0.63 g for MRSA vs 2.0 mg/kg sublancin, respectively, on day 3) of MRSA-challenged mice (p < 0.05). Sublancin was further found to balance the immune response during infection and relieve intestinal inflammation through inhibition of NF-κB activation (p < 0.01). With their combined antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities, sublancin may have potent therapeutic potential for drug-resistant infections and sepsis.

Interaction between Antibacterial Peptide Apep10 and Escherichia coli Membrane Lipids Evaluated Using Liposome as Pseudo-Stationary Phase

Liposomes constructed from Escherichia coli membrane lipids were used as a pseudo-stationary phase in capillary electrophoresis and immobilised liposome chromatography to evaluate the interaction between antibacterial peptide (ABP) Apep10 and bacterial membrane lipids. The peptide mobility decreased as the concentration of liposomes increased, providing evidence for the existence of this interaction. The binding constant between Apep10 and the Escherichia coli membranes lipid liposome was higher than that of Apep10 with a mixed phospholipids liposome at the same temperature. The capillary electrophoresis results indicate that the binding ability of Apep10 with a liposome was dependent on the liposome’s lipid compositions. Thermodynamic analysis by immobilised liposome chromatography indicated that hydrophobic and electrostatic effects contributed to the partitioning of Apep10 in the membrane lipids. The liposomes constructed from bacterial membrane lipid were more suitable as the model membranes used to study dynamic ABP/membrane interactions than those constructed from specific ratios of particular phospholipids, with its more biomimetic phospholipid composition and contents. This study provides an appropriate model for the evaluation of ABP-membrane interactions.

Taking Advantage of Electric Field Induced Bacterial Aggregation for the Study of Interactions between Bacteria and Macromolecules by Capillary Electrophoresis

The quantification of interaction stoichiometry and binding constant between bacteria (or other microorganism) and (macro)molecules remains a challenging issue for which only a few adapted methods are available. In this paper, a new methodology was developed for the determination of the interaction stoichiometry and binding constant between bacteria and (macro)molecules. The originality of this work is to take advantage of the bacterial aggregation phenomenon to directly quantify the free ligand concentration in equilibrated bacteria-ligand mixtures using frontal analysis continuous capillary electrophoresis. The described methodology does not require any sample preparation such as filtration step or centrifugation. It was applied to the study of interactions between Erwinia carotovora and different generations of dendrigraft poly-L-lysines leading to quantitative information (i.e., stoichiometry and binding site constant). High stoichiometries in the order of 10(6)-10(7) were determined between nanometric dendrimer-like ligands and the rod-shaped micrometric bacteria. The effect of the dendrimer generation on the binding constant and the stoichiometry is discussed. Stoichiometries were compared with those obtained by replacing the bacteria by polystyrene microbeads to demonstrate the internalization of the ligands inside the bacteria and the increase of the specific surface via the formation of vesicles.

Recent developments in capillary and microchip electroseparations of peptides (2011-2013)

The review presents a comprehensive survey of recent developments and applications of capillary and microchip electroseparation methods (zone electrophoresis, ITP, IEF, affinity electrophoresis, EKC, and electrochromatography) for analysis, isolation, purification, and physicochemical and biochemical characterization of peptides. Advances in the investigation of electromigration properties of peptides, in the methodology of their analysis, including sample preseparation, preconcentration and derivatization, adsorption suppression and EOF control, as well as in detection of peptides, are presented. New developments in particular CE and CEC modes are reported and several types of their applications to peptide analysis are described: conventional qualitative and quantitative analysis, determination in complex (bio)matrices, monitoring of chemical and enzymatical reactions and physical changes, amino acid, sequence and chiral analysis, and peptide mapping of proteins. Some micropreparative peptide separations are shown and capabilities of CE and CEC techniques to provide relevant physicochemical characteristics of peptides are demonstrated.