Molecular target of synthetic antimicrobial oligomer in bacterial membranes

ORAL

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides comprises a key component of innate immunity for a wide range of multicellular organisms. It has been shown that natural antimicrobial peptides and their synthetic analogs have demonstrated broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity via permeating bacterial membranes selectively. Synthetic antimicrobials with tunable structure and toxicological profiles are ideal for investigations of selectivity mechanisms. We investigate interactions and self-assembly using a prototypical family of antimicrobials based on phenylene ethynylene. Results from synchrotron small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) results and in vitro microbicidal assays on genetically modified `knock-out' bacteria will be presented.

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Authors

  • Lihua Yang

    • Dept. of Materials Science and Engr., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Vernita Gordon

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Dept. of Materials Science and Engr., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Abhigyan Som

    • Dept. of Polymer Science and Engr., Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst

  • John Cronan

    • Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Gregory Tew

    • Dept. of Polymer Science and Engr., Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst

  • Gerard C. L. Wong

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • UIUC
    • Dept. of Materials Science and Engr., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Department of Materials Science Engineering, Department of Physics, and Seitz Materials Research Lab, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign