Analyzing mechanisms of action of antimicrobial peptides on bacterial membranes requires multiple complimentary assays and different bacterial strains.

Wang, Xiaoqi, van Beekveld, Roy AM, Xu, Yang, Parmar, Anish, Das, Sanjit, Singh, Ishwar ORCID: 0000-0001-7822-1063 and Breukink, Eefjan (2023) Analyzing mechanisms of action of antimicrobial peptides on bacterial membranes requires multiple complimentary assays and different bacterial strains. Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes, 1865 (6). p. 184160.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2023.184160

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) commonly target bacterial membranes and show broad-spectrum activity against microorganisms. In this research we used three AMPs (nisin, epilancin 15×, [R4L10]-teixobactin) and tested their membrane effects towards three strains (Staphylococcus simulans, Micrococcus flavus, Bacillus megaterium) in relation with their antibacterial activity. We describe fluorescence and luminescence-based assays to measure effects on membrane potential, intracellular pH, membrane permeabilization and intracellular ATP levels. The results show that our control peptide, nisin, performed mostly as expected in view of its targeted pore-forming activity, with fast killing kinetics that coincided with severe membrane permeabilization in all three strains. However, the mechanisms of action of both Epilancin 15× as well as [R4L10]-teixobactin appeared to depend strongly on the bacterium tested. In certain specific combinations of assay, peptide and bacterium, deviations from the general picture were observed. This was even the case for nisin, indicating the importance of using multiple assays and bacteria for mode of action studies to be able to draw proper conclusions on the mode of action of AMPs.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Antimicrobial peptides, Membrane effects, Membrane potential, pH homeostasis, ATP homeostasis
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	02 May 2023 08:57
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2024 01:30
DOI:	10.1016/j.bbamem.2023.184160
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3170064