Treatment of clinical isolates of human pathogenic bacteria, which were known to be resistant to multiple commonly-used antibiotics, with refined leukocyte extracts from the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) resulted in a timeand concentration-dependent inhibition of bacterial proliferation. The alligator leukocyte extract exhibited the strongest antibacterial effect on Pseudomona...

Drug resistance of bacterial pathogens is a growing problem that can be addressed through the discovery of compounds with novel mechanisms of antibacterial activity. Natural products, including plant phenolic compounds, are one source of diverse chemical structures that could inhibit bacteria through novel mechanisms. However, evaluating novel antibacterial mechanisms of action can be difficult...

Medicinal plants produce several antibacterial compounds. These plants are well known for their medicinal value and are widely used in community for the treatment of various diseases. In this study 5 different medicinal plants (Azadirachta indica, Ficus religiosa, Acacia nilotica, Linum usitatissimum and Rosa damascene), traditionally used in medicine, were subjected to preliminary screening fo...

PBP 10, an antibacterial, cell membrane-permeant rhodamine B-conjugated peptide derived from the polyphosphoinositide binding site of gelsolin, interacts selectively with both lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), the distinct components of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, respectively. Isolated LPS and LTA decrease the antimicrobial activities of PBP 10, as well as ot...

The antimicrobial, insecticidal, and hemolytic properties of peptides isolated from the venom of the predatory ant Pachycondyla goeldii, a member of the subfamily Ponerinae, were investigated. Fifteen novel peptides, named ponericins, exhibiting antibacterial and insecticidal properties were purified, and their amino acid sequences were characterized. According to their primary structure simila...

The cysteine-rich strongylocins were the first antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) discovered from the sea urchin species, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Homologous putative proteins (called SpStrongylocin) were found in the sister species, S. purpuratus. To demonstrate that they exhibit the same antibacterial activity as strongylocins, cDNAs encoding the 'mature' peptides (SpStrongylocins 1 and ...

Antimicrobial peptides occupy a prominent place in the production of pharmaceuticals, because of their effective contribution to the protection of the immune system against almost all types of pathogens. These peptides are thoroughly studied by computational methods designed to shed light on their main functions. In this paper, we propose a computational approach, named the Polarity Profile met...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are expressed in various living organisms as first-line host defenses against potential harmful encounters in their surroundings. AMPs are short polycationic peptides exhibiting various antimicrobial activities. The principal antibacterial activity is attributed to the membrane-lytic mechanism which directly interferes with the integrity of the bacterial cell membr...

Infectious diseases caused by Gram-negative bacteria and sepsis induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) pose a major threat to humans and animals and cause millions of deaths each year. Marine organisms are a valuable resource library of bioactive products with huge medicinal potential. Among them, antibacterial and antiendotoxic peptides or proteins, which are composed of metabolically tolerable r...