• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Effects of Single Amino Acid Substitution on the Biophysical Properties and Biological Activities of an Amphipathic α-Helical Antibacterial Peptide Against Gram-Negative Bacteria
  • Contributor: Tan, Juanjuan; Huang, Jinfeng; Huang, Yibing; Chen, Yuxin
  • Published: MDPI AG, 2014
  • Published in: Molecules, 19 (2014) 8, Seite 10803-10817
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.3390/molecules190810803
  • ISSN: 1420-3049
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: An antimicrobial peptide, known as V13K, was utilized as the framework to study the effects of charge, hydrophobicity and helicity on the biophysical properties and biological activities of α-helical peptides. Six amino acids (Lys, Glu, Gly, Ser, Ala, and Leu) were individually used to substitute the original hydrophobic valine at the selected sixteenth location on the non-polar face of V13K. The results showed that the single amino acid substitutions changed the hydrophobicity of peptide analogs as monitored by RP-HPLC, but did not cause significant changes on peptide secondary structures both in a benign buffer and in a hydrophobic environment. The biological activities of the analogs exhibited a hydrophobicity-dependent behavior. The mechanism of peptide interaction with the outer membrane and cytoplasmic membrane of Gram-negative bacteria was investigated. We demonstrated that this single amino acid substitution method has valuable potential for the rational design of antimicrobial peptides with enhanced activities.
  • Access State: Open Access