Bioengineering and functional characterization of arenicin shortened analogs with enhanced antibacterial activity and cell selectivity

New bioengineering approaches are required for development of more active and less toxic antimicrobial peptides. In this study we used β‐hairpin antimicrobial peptide arenicin‐1 as a template for design of more potent antimicrobials. In particular, six shortened 17‐residue analogs were obtained by recombinant expression in Escherichia coli. Besides, we have introduced the second disulfide bridge by analogy with the structure of tachyplesins. As a result, a number of analogs with enhanced activity and cell selectivity were developed. In comparison with arenicin‐1, which acts on cell membranes with low selectivity, the most potent and promising its analog termed ALP1 possessed two‐fold higher antibacterial activity and did not affect viability of mammalian cells at concentration up to 50 μM. The therapeutic index of ALP1 against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria was significantly increased compared with that of arenicin‐1 while the mechanism of action remained the same. Like arenicin‐1, the analog rapidly disrupt membranes of both stationary and exponential phase bacterial cells and effectively kills multidrug‐resistant Gram‐negative bacteria. Furthermore, ALP1 was shown to bind DNA in vitro at a ratio of 1:1 (w/w). The circular dichroism spectra demonstrated that secondary structures of the shortened analogs were similar to that of arenicin‐1 in water solution, but significantly differed in membrane‐mimicking environments. This work shows that a strand length is one of the key parameters affecting cell selectivity of β‐hairpin antimicrobial peptides. Copyright © 2015 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.