文摘
Short antimicrobial peptides represent attractive compounds for the development of new antibiotic agents. Previously, we identified an ultrashort hydrophobic and phenylalanine-rich peptide, called temporin-SHf, representing the smallest natural amphibian antimicrobial peptide known to date. Here, we report on the first structure鈥揳ctivity relationship study of this peptide. A series of temporin-SHf derivatives containing insertion of a basic arginine residue as well as residues containing neutral hydrophilic (serine and 伪-hydroxymethylserine) and hydrophobic (伪-methyl phenylalanine and p-<sup>tsup>butyl phenylalanine) groups were designed to improve the antimicrobial activity, and their 伪-helical structure was investigated by circular dichroism and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Three compounds were found to display higher antimicrobial activity with the ability to disrupt (permeabilization/depolarization) the bacterial membrane while retaining the nontoxic character of the parent peptide toward rat erythrocytes and human cells (THP-1 derived macrophages and HEK-293). Antimicrobial assays were carried out to explore the influence of serum and physiological salt concentration on peptide activity. Analogs containing <span class="smallcaps">dspan>-amino acid residues were also tested. Our study revealed that [p-<sup>tsup>BuF<sup>2sup>, R<sup>5sup>]SHf is an attractive ultrashort candidate that is highly potent (bactericidal) against Gram-positive bacteria (including multidrug resistant S. aureus) and against a wider range of clinically interesting Gram-negative bacteria than temporin-SHf, and also active at physiological salt concentrations and in 30% serum.
