Targeting nucleic acid phase transitions as a mechanism of action for antimicrobial peptides.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which combat bacterial infections by disrupting the bacterial cell membrane or interacting with intracellular targets, are naturally produced by a number of different organisms, and are increasingly also explored as therapeutics. However, the mechanisms by which AMPs act on intracellular targets are not well understood. Using machine learning-based sequence analysis, we identified a significant number of AMPs that have a strong tendency to form liquid-like condensates in the presence of nucleic acids through phase separation. We demonstrate that this phase separation propensity is linked to the effectiveness of the AMPs in inhibiting transcription and translation in vitro, as well as their ability to compact nucleic acids and form clusters with bacterial nucl

SUBMITTER: Sneideris T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10630377 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature