Antimicrobial Peptide Mimicking Primary Amine and Guanidine Containing Methacrylamide Copolymers Prepared by Raft Polymerization

Authors

Sarah E. Exley, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Lea C. Paslay, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Gyan S. Sahukhal, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Brooks A. Abel, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Tyler D. Brown, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Charles L. McCormickFollow
Sabine Heinhorst, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Veena Koul, Indian Institute of TechnologyFollow
Veena Choudhary, Indian Institute of TechnologyFollow
Mohamed O. Elasri, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Sarah E. Morgan, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-11-2015

Department

Biological Sciences

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) display the ability to eliminate a wide variety of bacteria, without toxicity to the host eukaryotic cells. Synthetic polymers containing moieties mimicking lysine and arginine components found in AMPs have been reported to show effectiveness against specific bacteria, with the mechanism of activity purported to depend on the nature of the amino acid mimic. In an attempt to incorporate the antimicrobial activity of both amino acids into a single water-soluble copolymer, a series of copolymers containing lysine mimicking aminopropyl methacrylamide (APMA) and arginine mimicking guanadinopropyl methacrylamide (GPMA) were prepared via aqueous RAFT polymerization. Copolymers were prepared with varying ratios of the comonomers, with degree of polymerization of 35–40 and narrow molecular weight distribution to simulate naturally occurring AMPs. Antimicrobial activity was determined against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria under conditions with varying salt concentration. Toxicity to mammalian cells was assessed by hemolysis of red blood cells and MTT assays of MCF-7 cells. Antimicrobial activity was observed for APMA homopolymer and copolymers with low concentrations of GPMA against all bacteria tested, with low toxicity toward mammalian cells.

Publication Title

Biomacromolecules

Issue

12

First Page

3845

Last Page

3852

Recommended Citation

Exley, S. E., Paslay, L. C., Sahukhal, G. S., Abel, B. A., Brown, T. D., McCormick, C. L., Heinhorst, S., Koul, V., Choudhary, V., Elasri, M. O., Morgan, S. E. (2015). Antimicrobial Peptide Mimicking Primary Amine and Guanidine Containing Methacrylamide Copolymers Prepared by Raft Polymerization. Biomacromolecules(12), 3845-3852.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/15147