Abstract

PINILLA, Gladys et al. Design of peptides based on similar sequence of negative repressor icaR of Staphylococcus sp. Rev.Colomb.Quim. [online]. 2015, vol.44, n.2, pp.5-9. ISSN 0120-2804.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rev.colomb.quim.v44n2.55213.

Staphylococcus sp. biofilm, formed as a mechanism of virulence that is involved in hospital acquired infections, is regulated by a negative repressor icaR, which is responsible for the full transcription of the operon icaADBC. This study, through functional commands by computational modulation of icaR, allowed to find peptide sequences with similar biological activity to the icaR protein. Peptides were designed by means of computational biology using the prediction program AntiBP (http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/antibp/). The chemical synthesis of peptides was performed by Nα-Fmoc. The purification and characterization of three molecules were carried out using RP-HPLC and MALDI-TOF. Biological safety of peptides was evaluated by tests of cytotoxic activity on murine macrophage cells line J774, and their hemolytic activity was determined by using red cells. The three characterized peptides IR1, IR2 and IR3 presented a predominantly secondary alpha helical structure with a high degree of purity and high antimicrobial scores. In addition, the peptides exhibited low toxicity, proved by their low cytotoxic and hemolytic activity in the tested concentrations and in comparison to the standards used. These results allow the potential use of these peptides as candidate molecules or active principles with similar activity to the native repressor icaR against the Staphylococcus biofilm.

Keywords : antimicrobial cationic peptides; operon; computational biology; chemical synthesis; cytotoxicity.

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