Discovery of Microbial Antimicrobial Peptides
To date, clinical isolates of almost all different bacterial species have developed some level of resistance. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have the potential to play an important role in the fight against the rapidly increasing resistance of microorganisms to conventional antibiotics. Microbial produced AMPs have been a hot topic of research and many ribosomal and non-ribosomal synthesized peptides have been reported in the last few years. Ace Therapeutics focuses on recent advances in microbial produced AMPs to provide scientists with research services applied to the treatment of drug-dependent resistance in target strains.
AMPs Produced by Microorganisms
Microorganisms can produce a variety of antimicrobial substances such as antibiotics, metabolic byproducts, exotoxins and peptides synthesized by ribosomes. Most of the AMPs isolated from microorganisms share common biophysical properties that are important for antimicrobial activity. These peptides are called defensin-like peptides when produced in fungi and bacteriocins when produced in bacteria.
Fig. 1 Representative structure of plectasin (left) and structures of the bacteriocins colicin (right). (Paiva, A D and Breukink, E, 2013)
Defensins are a large class of cationic antimicrobial peptides. The first fungal defensin-like peptide, named plectasin, was active against antibiotic-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Bacteriocins are a subset of AMPs produced by bacteria. The spectrum of activity of bacteriocins can be narrow, limited to inhibition of closely related species, or relatively broad, inhibiting the growth of a broader range of microorganisms.
Our Development Services for Microbial AMPs
Nature has a huge source of microorganisms. We are dedicated to the application of these natural peptides of microbial origin, including defensin-like peptides that often exhibit broad-spectrum activity, rapid action and anti-inflammatory properties, and bacteriocins that have selective toxicity to help treat diseases produced by multi-drug resistant bacteria from antibiotics.
We provide biotechnology support to help you discover anti-superbug drugs from microbial AMPs. We conduct research targeting AMPs in order to achieve microbial peptides that address the growing problem of single and multidrug resistant infectious pathogens and may constitute a new generation of antibiotics.
Study of defensin-like peptides from fungi
Fungal-derived defensins are a class of antimicrobial peptides with therapeutic potential because of their high antimicrobial efficacy and low toxicity. We can expand the scope of fungal screening based on genomic strategies to identify multiple fungal defensin-like peptides in different fungal genera, perform sequence and structural analysis, and explore their ability to kill drug-resistant strains.
Study of bacteriocins from bacteria
We can support the isolation and characterization of bacteriocins from different bacterial species to explore in vitro activity against common superbugs such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), and Clostridium difficile. Further, new molecules can be designed based on genetic peptide engineering to expand their use as antimicrobial agents.
Our research opens a new avenue for the discovery and development of major compounds for potential antimicrobial drugs to counter antibiotic resistance, and works to successfully accelerate the discovery and isolation of major antimicrobial drugs from lower microorganisms.
Accelerated AMP Drug Collaboration
Ace Therapeutics offers the development of new antibiotic therapies for superbug infections. We have proprietary AMPs technology for the discovery and design of treatments for infections caused by a variety of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Based on our services, we help our customers identify and develop less virulent, more stable and less costly to produce microbial AMPs against superbug infections. Please contact us to get more support.
Reference
- Paiva, A D and Breukink, E. Antimicrobial Peptides Produced by Microorganisms. In: Hiemstra, P., Zaat, S. (eds) Antimicrobial Peptides and Innate Immunity. Progress in Inflammation Research, 2013.