Identification and Functional Characterization of Peptides With Antimicrobial Activity From the Syphilis Spirochete, Treponema pallidum.

ABSTRACT: The etiological agent of syphilis, Treponema pallidum ssp. pallidum, is a highly invasive "stealth" pathogen that can evade the host immune response and persist within the host for decades. This obligate human pathogen is adept at establishing infection and surviving at sites within the host that have a multitude of competing microbes, sometimes including pathogens. One survival strategy employed by bacteria found at polymicrobial sites is elimination of competing microorganisms by production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Antimicrobial peptides are low molecular weight proteins (miniproteins) that function directly via inhibition and killing of microbes and/or indirectly via modulation of the host immune response, which can facilitate immune evasion. In the current study,

SUBMITTER: Houston S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9200625 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature