Display of multimeric antimicrobial peptides on the Escherichia coli cell surface and its application as whole-cell antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Concerns over the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic microorganisms due to the overuse of antibiotics and the lack of effective antibiotics for livestock have prompted efforts to develop alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with a broad-spectrum activity and rapid killing, along with little opportunity for the development of resistance, represent one of the promising novel alternatives. Their high production cost and cytotoxicity, however, limit the use of AMPs as effective antibiotic agents to livestock. To overcome these problems, we developed potent antimicrobial Escherichia coli displaying multimeric AMPs on the cell surface so that the AMP multimers can be converted into active AMP monomers by the pepsin in the stomach of livesto

SUBMITTER: Shin JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3597565 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature