Antimicrobial Polymer–Peptide Conjugates Based on Maximin H5 and PEG to Prevent Biofouling of E. coli and P. aeruginosa

Abstract

Many pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli bacteria can easily attach to surfaces and form stable biofilms. The formation of such biofilms in surfaces presents a problem in environmental, biomedical, and industrial processes, among many others. Aiming to provide a plausible solution to this issue, the anionic and hydrophobic peptide Maximin H5 C-terminally deaminated isoform (MH5C) has been modified with a cysteine in the C-terminal (MH5C-Cys) and coupled to polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers of varying sizes (i.e., 2 kDa and 5 kDa) to serve as a surface protective coating. Briefly, the MH5C-Cys was bioconjugated to PEG and purified by size exclusion chromatography while the reaction was confirmed via SDS-PAGE and MALDI ToF. Moreover, the preventive antimicrobial activity of the MH5C-Cys-PEG conjugates was performed via the growth curves method, showing inhibition of bacterial growth after 24 h. The efficacy of these peptide−polymer conjugates was extensively characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), minimum inhibition concentration (MIC), minimum biofilm inhibition concentration (MBIC), and minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) assays to evaluate their ability to eradicate and prevent the biofilms. Interestingly, this work demonstrated a critical PEG polymer weight of 5 kDa as ideal when coupled to the peptide to achieve inhibition and eradication of the biofilm formation in both bacteria strains. According to the MICs (40 μM) and MBICs (300 μM), we can conclude that this conjugate (MH5C-Cys-5 kDa) has an action that prevents/inhibits the formation of biofilms and the eradication of biofilms (MBEC 500 μM). In contrast, the MH5C-Cys peptide with PEG polymer of 2 kDa did not show inhibition or eradication of the biofilms.

Nanohybrids as Protein-Polymer Conjugate Multimodal Therapeutics

“…developed AMPs conjugated with PEG that prevented biofouling by killing E. coli and P. aeruginosa from surfaces (127). The ability of materials to cross the plasma membrane of the target cells is crucial in the majority of drug delivery approaches.…”

“…Xie et al targeted such AMPs conjugated with methacrylate to the biofilm found in dental caries and achieved complete lysis at concentrations as low as 10 μg/ml ( 126 ). Ortiz-Gómez et al developed AMPs conjugated with PEG that prevented biofouling by killing E. coli and P. aeruginosa from surfaces ( 127 ). The ability of materials to cross the plasma membrane of the target cells is crucial in the majority of drug delivery approaches.…”

Biomimetic polypyrrole/hyaluronic acid electrodes integrated with hyaluronidase inhibitors offer persistent electroactivity and resistance to cell binding

“…21,22 Hence, extensive studies have been performed to develop electrode surfaces that are resistant to protein and cell binding by using various non-biofouling polymers, such as polyethylene glycol, zwitterionic polymers, and HA. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] In our previous studies, we demonstrated that surface immobilization of HA or zwitterionic polymers could minimize the non-specific binding of proteins and cells. 8,[30][31][32] In particular, we fabricated HA-doped PPy (PPy/HA) as biomimetic electrodes while varying the molecular weight (MW) of HA in the range of 35 kDa to 3 MDa.…”

Novel Multifunctional Silver Nanocomposite Serves as a Resistance-Reversal Agent to Synergistically Combat Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

“…By improving biopharmaceutical properties, strengthening the stability, avoiding proteolytic hydrolysis, and extending the half-life period, PEG-coated AgNPs manifest inferior properties . In addition, PEG-coated silver nanoparticles show not only superior antibacterial properties but also better stability …”

“…40 By improving biopharmaceutical properties, strengthening the stability, avoiding proteolytic hydrolysis, and extending the half-life period, PEG-coated AgNPs manifest inferior properties. 41 In addition, PEG-coated silver nanoparticles show not only superior antibacterial properties 42 but also better stability. 43 According to the above analyses, SH-PEG-NOTA was first coated on silver nanoparticles, and then, we designed a new smart nanodrug delivery system by loading with imipenem (IPM@AgNPs-PEG-NOTA), which possesses various advantages such as excellent biosecurity, pH sensitivity, multifunction, and high efficiency (Figure 1).…”