Designed α-sheet peptides disrupt uropathogenic E. coli biofilms rendering bacteria susceptible to antibiotics and immune cells.

ABSTRACT: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli account for the largest proportion of nosocomial infections in the United States. Nosocomial infections are a major source of increased costs and treatment complications. Many infections are biofilm associated, rendering antibiotic treatments ineffective or cause additional complications (e.g., microbiome depletion). This work presents a potentially complementary non-antibiotic strategy to fight nosocomial infections by inhibiting the formation of amyloid fibrils, a proteinaceous structural reinforcement known as curli in E. coli biofilms. Despite extensive characterization of the fibrils themselves and their associated secretion system, mechanistic details of curli assembly in vivo remain unclear. We hypothesized that, like other amyloid fibrils, curli polym

SUBMITTER: Bleem A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10247742 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature