Background: The development of new drugs against tuberculosis and diphtheria is focused on disrupting the biogenesis of the cell wall, the unique architecture of which confers resistance against current therapies. The enzymatic pathways involved in the synthesis of the cell wall by these pathogens are well understood, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms are largely unknown.

A popular strategy to control cellular growth and differentiation is the employment of self-assembling peptides as biomaterials. In this study we decorated ultrashort helical N-acetylated β-tripeptides with cell adhesion signals IKVAV and RGD, which spontaneously self-assemble to give nanofibres with multiple signals, and form a bioscaffold that supports the growth of cells.