Designed α-sheet peptides suppress amyloid formation in Staphylococcus aureus biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Nosocomial infections affect hundreds of millions of patients worldwide each year, and ~60% of these infections are associated with biofilm formation on an implanted medical device. Biofilms are dense communities of microorganisms in which cells associate with surfaces and each other using a self-produced extracellular matrix composed of proteins, polysaccharides, and genetic material. Proteins in the extracellular matrix take on a variety of forms, but here we focus on functional amyloid structures. Amyloids have long been associated with protein misfolding and neurodegenerative diseases, but recent research has demonstrated that numerous bacterial species utilize the amyloid fold to fortify the biofilm matrix and resist disassembly. Consequently, these functional amyloids, in particular

SUBMITTER: Bleem A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5495782 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature