BackgroundMuch attention has been focused on the design and synthesis of potent, cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that possess both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. However, their development into therapeutic agents has been limited mainly due to their large size (12 to 50 residues in length) and poor protease stability.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn an attempt to overcome the issues described above, a set of ultra-short, His-derived antimicrobial peptides (HDAMPs) has been developed for the first time. Through systematic tuning of pendant hydrophobic alkyl tails at the N(π)- and N(τ)-positions on His, and the positive charge of Arg, much higher prokaryotic selectivity was achieved, compared to human AMP LL-37. Additionally, the most potent HDAMPs showed promising dual antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as anti–methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) activity and proteolytic resistance. Our results from transmission electron microscopy, membrane depolarization, confocal laser-scanning microscopy, and calcein-dye leakage experiments propose that HDAMP-1 kills microbial cells via dissipation of the membrane potential by forming pore/ion channels on bacterial cell membranes.Conclusion/SignificanceThe combination of the ultra-short size, high-prokaryotic selectivity, potent anti-MRSA activity, anti-inflammatory activity, and proteolytic resistance of the designed HDAMP-1, -3, -5, and -6 makes these molecules promising candidates for future antimicrobial therapeutics.

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Antimicrobial peptides have recently gained the much attention because of their ability to make defense system from attacking bacterial infections. Drosocin has been considered as very attractive antibiotic agents because of low toxicity against human erythrocytes and active at the low concentration. We have studied the structureactivity relationship of a glycopeptide drosocin focused on the N-acetyl-D-galactoside at Thr 11 residue. Based on the radial diffusion assay, we found that the acetylation of carbohydrate moiety increased the antimicrobial activity and the Pro 10 , present in the middle of drosocin plays an important role in the antimicrobial activity. Our results provide a good lead compound for further studies on the design of drosocin-based analogues targeting glyco linked Thr site.

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