Abstract
The present work describes the synthesis of hybrid dipeptides H-Lys-Gpn-PEA, C1; H-Lys-β3,3AC6C-PEA, C2, and THPA conjugated dipeptides, THPA-Lys-Gpn-PEA, C3, and THPA-Lys-β3,3AC6C-PEA, C4. All the peptides were evaluated against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. Among all, peptide C4 exhibited the most potent activity with MIC 1.56 μM against P. aeruginosa (MTCC 424) and S. aureus (MTCC 737). Further, time-kill kinetics, fluorescence assays, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies were performed in order to understand the mechanism of action and efficacy of peptide C4, The fluorescence assays and SEM images demonstrated the bacterial killing through membrane disruption. The peptide C4 exhibited very low hemolytic activity with negligible cytotoxicity against normal human breast cell line FR2.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Brown KL, Hancock RE. Cationic host defense (antimicrobial) peptides. Curr Opin Immunol. 2006;18:24–30.
Fischbach MA, Walsh CT. Antibiotics for emerging pathogens. Science. 2009;325:1089–93.
Wu H, Niu Y, Padhee S, Wang RE, Li Y, Qiao Q, et al. Design and synthesis of unprecedented cyclic γ-AApeptides for antimicrobial development. Chem Sci. 2012;3:2570–5.
Mercer D, O’Neil D. Peptides as the next generation of antiinfectives. Future Med Chem. 2013;5:315–37.
Gentilucci L, De Marco R, Cerisoli L. Chemical modifications designed to improve peptide stability: incorporation of non-natural amino acids, pseudo-peptide bonds, and cyclization. Curr Pharm Des. 2010;16:3185–203.
Shankar SS, Benke SN, Nagendra N, Srivastava PL, Thulasiram HV, Gopi HN. Self-assembly to function: design, synthesis, and broad spectrum antimicrobial properties of short hybrid E-vinylogous lipopeptides. J Med Chem. 2013;56:8468–74.
Wani NA, Singh G, Shankar S, Sharma A, Katoch M, Rai R. Short hybrid peptides incorporating β-and γ-amino acids as antimicrobial agents. Peptides. 2017;97:46–53.
Tsubery H, Ofek I, Cohen S, Fridkin M. N-terminal modifications of polymyxin B nonapeptide and their effect on antibacterial activity. Peptides. 2001;22:1675–81.
Steenbergen JN, Alder J, Thorne GM, Tally FP. Daptomycin: a lipopeptide antibiotic for the treatment of serious Gram-positive infections. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2005;55:283–8.
Chongsiriwatana NP, Miller TM, Wetzler M, Vakulenko S, Karlsson AJ, Palecek SP, et al. Short alkylated peptoid mimics of antimicrobial lipopeptides. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2011;55:417–20.
Lee J, Kang D, Choi J, Huang W, Wadman M, Barron AE, et al. Effect of side chain hydrophobicity and cationic charge on antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of helical peptoids. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2018;28:170–3.
Lehto T, Vasconcelos L, Margus H, Figueroa R, Pooga M, Hällbrink M, et al. Saturated fatty acid analogues of cell-penetrating peptide PepFect14: role of fatty acid modification in complexation and delivery of splice-correcting oligonucleotides. Bioconjugate Chem. 2017;28:782–92.
De Zoysa GH, Cameron AJ, Hegde VV, Raghothama S, Sarojini V. Antimicrobial peptides with potential for biofilm eradication: synthesis and structure activity relationship studies of battacin peptides. J Med Chem. 2015;58:625–39.
Hansen T, Alst T, Havelkova M, Strøm MB. Antimicrobial activity of small β-peptidomimetics based on the pharmacophore model of short cationic antimicrobial peptides. J Med Chem. 2010;53:595–606.
Wang M, Rakesh K, Leng J, Fang W-Y, Ravindar L, Gowda DC, et al. Amino acids/peptides conjugated heterocycles: a tool for the recent development of novel therapeutic agents. Bioorg Chem. 2018;76:113–29.
Janzowski C, Glaab V, Mueller C, Straesser U, Kamp H, Eisenbrand G. α, β‐Unsaturated carbonyl compounds: induction of oxidative DNA damage in mammalian cells. Mutagenesis. 2003;18:465–70.
Jayaraj P, Narasimhulu CA, Rajagopalan S, Parthasarathy S, Desikan R. Sesamol: a powerful functional food ingredient from sesame oil for cardioprotection. Food Funct. 2020;11:1198–210.
Kemprai P, Protim Mahanta B, Sut D, Barman R, Banik D, Lal M, et al. Review on safrole: identity shift of the ‘candy shop’ aroma to a carcinogen and deforester. Flavour Fragr J. 2020;35:5–23.
Zhu X, Wang Y-K, Yang X-N, Xiao X-R, Zhang T, Yang X-W, et al. Metabolic activation of myristicin and its role in cellular toxicity. J Agric Food Chem. 2019;67:4328–36.
Leite ACL, da Silva KP, de Souza IA, de Araújo JM, Brondani DJ. Synthesis, antitumour and antimicrobial activities of new peptidyl derivatives containing the 1, 3-benzodioxole system. Eur J Med Chem. 2004;39:1059–65.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, for financial assistance. JuR is thankful to UGC for Senior Research Fellowship (SRF). GS is thankful to ICMR for Senior Research Fellowship (SRF).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ur Rahim, J., Singh, G., Shankar, S. et al. Tetrahydropiperic acid (THPA) conjugated cationic hybrid dipeptides as antimicrobial agents. J Antibiot 74, 480–483 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-021-00419-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-021-00419-0