Cationic amphiphilic peptides (CAPs) are widely studied as effectors that are activated by microbial pathogens in immune signaling pathways of invertebrates and vertebrates. These peptides are non-specific effectors that can kill bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoan parasites [1, 2]. They are a universal feature in all forms of life and are often found in all the major barriers such as the sk...

Cationic antimicrobial host defense peptides (HDPs) combat infection by directly killing a wide variety of microbes, and/or modulating host immunity. HDPs have great therapeutic potential against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, viruses and even parasites, but there are substantial roadblocks to their therapeutic application. High manufacturing costs associated with amino acid precursors have lim...

Multicellular organisms are constantly exposed to a multitude of pathogenic microbes. Infection is inhibited in vivo by the innate and adaptive immune system. Mycobacterium species have emerged that are resistant to most antibiotics. We identified several naturally occurring cationic antimicrobial peptides that were active at low micromolar concentrations against Mycobacterium smegmatis. Human-...

Antimicrobial peptides, a large class of molecules synthetized by various organisms as an innate defense against pathogens are more and used for their anticancer properties well. In order to overcome some limitations enhance therapeutic efficiency, the use delivery systems was taken into consideration. this study we describe original system antimicrobial peptides based on its physico-chemical p...

Cationic antimicrobial peptides/proteins (AMPs) are important components of the host innate defense mechanisms against invading microorganisms. Here we demonstrate that OprI (outer membrane protein I) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is responsible for its susceptibility to human ribonuclease 7 (hRNase 7) and alpha-helical cationic AMPs, instead of surface lipopolysaccharide, which is the initial bind...

Fish losses from infectious diseases are a significant problem in aquaculture worldwide. Therefore, we investigated the ability of cationic antimicrobial peptides to protect against infection caused by the fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum. To identify effective peptides for fish, the MICs of certain antimicrobial peptides against fish pathogens were determined in vitro. Two of the most effectiv...

We investigate the properties of an antimicrobial surfactant-like peptide (Ala)6(Arg), A6R, containing a cationic headgroup. The interaction of this peptide with zwitterionic (DPPC) lipid vesicles is investigated using a range of microscopic, X-ray scattering, spectroscopic, and calorimetric methods. The β-sheet structure adopted by A6R is disrupted in the presence of DPPC. A strong effect on t...

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are able to kill a broad variety of Gram-negative and Gram positive bacteria and thus are good candidates for a new generation of antibiotics to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria. Here we describe a highthroughput method to screen large numbers of peptides for improved antimicrobial activity. The method relies on peptide synthesis on a cellulose support and a Ps...

Structure-function relationships in antimicrobial peptides have been extensively investigated in order to obtain improved analogs. Most of these studies have targeted either alpha-helical peptides or beta-sheet peptides with multiple disulfide bridges. Tigerinins are short, nonhelical antimicrobial peptides with a single disulfide bridge. In this study, we have synthesized several analogs of ti...