AUTHOR=Wu Chih-Lung , Peng Kuang-Li , Yip Bak-Sau , Chih Ya-Han , Cheng Jya-Wei 

TITLE=Boosting Synergistic Effects of Short Antimicrobial Peptides With Conventional Antibiotics Against Resistant Bacteria

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.747760

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.747760

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Due to the global spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial and fungal strains, there is an urgent need to develop new antimicrobial alternatives. In this study, we describe a method to boost antibacterial activities and synergistic effects with conventional antibiotics of short antimicrobial peptides by adding the non-nature bulky amino acid β-naphthylalanine to their termini. A checkboard method was used to evaluate synergistic effects of the peptides. Moreover, boron-dipyrro-methene (BODIPY) labeled vancomycin was used to characterize the synergistic mechanism of action between the peptides and vancomycin on the bacterial strains. Attenuation of the antibiotic-induced release of LPS from E. coli by the peptides was also found. Our results demonstrate that β-naphthylalanine end-tags could help in developing antimicrobial peptides that not only have enhanced antibacterial activities but also increase the synergistic effects with conventional antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.