Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Structure–Activity Relationship Studies on Antimicrobial Peptides

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Antimicrobial Peptides".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 482

Special Issue Editor

Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: bacterial cell division; peptidoglycan structure; peptidoglycan metabolism; penicillin-binding proteins; beta-lactams; betalactamases; protein export; two-component systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antibacterial peptides are host defense polypeptides that are present in various life forms from both prokaryotes to eucaryotes. Because of their unique antibacterial potential, these peptides are emerging as candidate chemotherapeutic drugs against more or less pathogenic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including those resistant to conventional antibiotics. This Special Issue deals with the 'Structure–Activity Relationship Studies on Antimicrobial Peptides'. It includes the discovery of 'new' antimicrobial peptides and their structural and functional characterization, with a special focus on the intimate relationships between primary structure, 3D structure and bioactivity on microbes. Potential contributors are encouraged to submit their best research and/or 'in-depth' review articles dealing with this important research topic.

Dr. Juan Ayala
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

  • antimicrobial peptides
  • antibacterial
  • antibiotics
  • structure–activity relationships
  • bacteriocins
  • rational drug design
  • peptide engineering
  • bacterial resistance
  • mechanism of action
  • delivery system
  • clinical potential

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

37 pages, 9611 KiB  
Review
Dual Antibiotic Approach: Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Antibiotic–Antimicrobial Peptide Conjugates
by Maria Cristina Bellucci, Carola Romani, Monica Sani and Alessandro Volonterio
Antibiotics 2024, 13(8), 783; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13080783 (registering DOI) - 21 Aug 2024
Viewed by 293
Abstract
In recent years, bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics has become a major concern in the medical field. The global misuse of antibiotics in clinics, personal use, and agriculture has accelerated this resistance, making infections increasingly difficult to treat and rendering new antibiotics ineffective [...] Read more.
In recent years, bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics has become a major concern in the medical field. The global misuse of antibiotics in clinics, personal use, and agriculture has accelerated this resistance, making infections increasingly difficult to treat and rendering new antibiotics ineffective more quickly. Finding new antibiotics is challenging due to the complexity of bacterial mechanisms, high costs and low financial incentives for the development of new molecular scaffolds, and stringent regulatory requirements. Additionally, innovation has slowed, with many new antibiotics being modifications of existing drugs rather than entirely new classes. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a valid alternative to small-molecule antibiotics offering several advantages, including broad-spectrum activity and a lower likelihood of inducing resistance due to their multifaceted mechanisms of action. However, AMPs face challenges such as stability issues in physiological conditions, potential toxicity to human cells, high production costs, and difficulties in large-scale manufacturing. A reliable strategy to overcome the drawbacks associated with the use of small-molecule antibiotics and AMPs is combination therapy, namely the simultaneous co-administration of two or more antibiotics or the synthesis of covalently linked conjugates. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature on the development of antibiotic–AMP conjugates, with a particular emphasis on critically analyzing the design and synthetic strategies employed in their creation. In addition to the synthesis, the review will also explore the reported antibacterial activity of these conjugates and, where available, examine any data concerning their cytotoxicity. Full article
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