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Antibiotics
Special Issues
The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance
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The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Antimicrobial Peptides".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 8853

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francois Bedard

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculté de pharmacie, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
Interests: antimicrobial peptides; peptide synthesis
Dr. Elizabete de Souza Cândido

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
S-Inova Biotech, Programa de Pós Graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Dom Bosco, Campo Grande, Brazil
Interests: antimicrobial peptides; microbial resistance; plant antimicrobial peptides; proteomics; peptidomics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Resolving the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major challenge and critical for the human race. The generation of new antibiotics has fallen since the last two decades in contrast to the emergence of new multi-resistant pathogens.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been shown as a promising solution to this alarming situation. AMPs are small peptides with diverse structures and functions, which can be used to inhibit the growth of a wide spectrum of microorganisms including multi-resistant pathogens. Potential AMP sequences have been published in the last decade from diverse sources such as synthetic antimicrobial peptides, de novo antimicrobial peptides, hydrolyzates antimicrobial peptides, and isolated peptides from immune defences.

I would to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Antibiotics, which will provide a valuable insight for AMPs development. The aim of this issue is to understand the antimicrobial peptides activity spectrum, mechanisms of action, and their antimicrobial resistance potency with the goal of creating a solid next generation of antimicrobials for accelerating the development and generation of new AMPs.

Dr. Francois Bedard
Dr. Elizabete de Souza Cândido
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial peptides
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • mechanism of action
  • peptide synthesis
  • peptide purification

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 2525 KiB  
Article
Mechanistic Study of Antimicrobial Effectiveness of Cyclic Amphipathic Peptide [R4W4] against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolates
by Ajayi David Akinwale, Keykavous Parang, Rakesh Kumar Tiwari and Jason Yamaki
Antibiotics 2024, 13(6), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13060555 - 13 Jun 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2261
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are being explored as a potential strategy to combat antibiotic resistance due to their ability to reduce susceptibility to antibiotics. This study explored whether the [R4W4] peptide mode of action is bacteriostatic or bactericidal using modified [...] Read more.
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are being explored as a potential strategy to combat antibiotic resistance due to their ability to reduce susceptibility to antibiotics. This study explored whether the [R4W4] peptide mode of action is bacteriostatic or bactericidal using modified two-fold serial dilution and evaluating the synergism between gentamicin and [R4W4] against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by a checkered board assay. [R4W4] exhibited bactericidal activity against bacterial isolates (MBC/MIC ≤ 4), with a synergistic effect with gentamicin against E. coli (FICI = 0.3) but not against MRSA (FICI = 0.75). Moreover, we investigated the mechanism of action of [R4W4] against MRSA by applying biophysical assays to evaluate zeta potential, cytoplasmic membrane depolarization, and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) binding affinity. [R4W4] at a 16 mg/mL concentration stabilized the zeta potential of MRSA −31 ± 0.88 mV to −8.37 mV. Also, [R4W4] at 2 × MIC and 16 × MIC revealed a membrane perturbation process associated with concentration-dependent effects. Lastly, in the presence of BODIPY-TR-cadaverine (BC) fluorescence dyes, [R4W4] exhibited binding affinity to LTA comparable with melittin, the positive control. In addition, the antibacterial activity of [R4W4] against MRSA remained unchanged in the absence and presence of LTA, with an MIC of 8 µg/mL. Therefore, the [R4W4] mechanism of action is deemed bactericidal, involving interaction with bacterial cell membranes, causing concentration-dependent membrane perturbation. Additionally, after 30 serial passages, there was a modest increment of MRSA strains resistant to [R4W4] and a change in antibacterial effectiveness MIC [R4W4] and vancomycin by 8 and 4 folds with a slight change in Levofloxacin MIC 1 to 2 µg/mL. These data suggest that [R4W4] warrants further consideration as a potential AMP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance)
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19 pages, 4084 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Heterologous Regulatory Genes from Lipodepsipeptide Biosynthetic Gene Clusters on the Production of Teicoplanin and A40926
by Kseniia Zhukrovska, Elisa Binda, Victor Fedorenko, Flavia Marinelli and Oleksandr Yushchuk
Antibiotics 2024, 13(2), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13020115 - 24 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2066
Abstract
StrR-like pathway-specific transcriptional regulators (PSRs) function as activators in the biosynthesis of various antibiotics, including glycopeptides (GPAs), aminoglycosides, aminocoumarins, and ramoplanin-like lipodepsipeptides (LDPs). In particular, the roles of StrR-like PSRs have been previously investigated in the biosynthesis of streptomycin, novobiocin, GPAs like balhimycin, [...] Read more.
StrR-like pathway-specific transcriptional regulators (PSRs) function as activators in the biosynthesis of various antibiotics, including glycopeptides (GPAs), aminoglycosides, aminocoumarins, and ramoplanin-like lipodepsipeptides (LDPs). In particular, the roles of StrR-like PSRs have been previously investigated in the biosynthesis of streptomycin, novobiocin, GPAs like balhimycin, teicoplanin, and A40926, as well as LDP enduracidin. In the current study, we focused on StrR-like PSRs from the ramoplanin biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) in Actinoplanes ramoplaninifer ATCC 33076 (Ramo5) and the chersinamycin BGC in Micromonospora chersina DSM 44151 (Chers28). Through the analysis of the amino acid sequences of Ramo5 and Chers28, we discovered that these proteins are phylogenetically distant from other experimentally investigated StrR PSRs, although all StrR-like PSRs found in BGCs for different antibiotics share a conserved secondary structure. To investigate whether Ramo5 and Chers28, given their phylogenetic positions, might influence the biosynthesis of other antibiotic pathways governed by StrR-like PSRs, the corresponding genes (ramo5 and chers28) were heterologously expressed in Actinoplanes teichomyceticus NRRL B-16726 and Nonomuraea gerenzanensis ATCC 39727, which produce the clinically-relevant GPAs teicoplanin and A40926, respectively. Recombinant strains of NRRL B-16726 and ATCC 39727 expressing chers28 exhibited improved antibiotic production, although the expression of ramo5 did not yield the same effect. These results demonstrate that some StrR-like PSRs can “cross-talk” between distant biosynthetic pathways and might be utilized as tools for the activation of silent BGCs regulated by StrR-like PSRs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance)
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Review

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23 pages, 2155 KiB  
Review
Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Biomedical Applications: A Review
by Ki Ha Min, Koung Hee Kim, Mi-Ran Ki and Seung Pil Pack
Antibiotics 2024, 13(9), 794; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13090794 - 23 Aug 2024
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3890
Abstract
The emergence of drug resistance genes and the detrimental health effects caused by the overuse of antibiotics are increasingly prominent problems. There is an urgent need for effective strategies to antibiotics or antimicrobial resistance in the fields of biomedicine and therapeutics. The pathogen-killing [...] Read more.
The emergence of drug resistance genes and the detrimental health effects caused by the overuse of antibiotics are increasingly prominent problems. There is an urgent need for effective strategies to antibiotics or antimicrobial resistance in the fields of biomedicine and therapeutics. The pathogen-killing ability of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is linked to their structure and physicochemical properties, including their conformation, electrical charges, hydrophilicity, and hydrophobicity. AMPs are a form of innate immune protection found in all life forms. A key aspect of the application of AMPs involves their potential to combat emerging antibiotic resistance; certain AMPs are effective against resistant microbial strains and can be modified through peptide engineering. This review summarizes the various strategies used to tackle antibiotic resistance, with a particular focus on the role of AMPs as effective antibiotic agents that enhance the host’s immunological functions. Most of the recent studies on the properties and impregnation methods of AMPs, along with their biomedical applications, are discussed. This review provides researchers with insights into the latest advancements in AMP research, highlighting compelling evidence for the effectiveness of AMPs as antimicrobial agents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance)
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