Scientists Create Artificial Antibiotics

Scientists have synthesized acrylamide polymer molecules that exhibit the amphiphilic structure of cell membranes and behave like antibiotics. The research was reported in a special section on supramolecular chemistry in the April 16, 2002, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"These custom-built molecules can mimic the complex structures and remarkable biological properties of proteins that fight bacteria,” said Gregory Tew of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, USA). "The potential ability to keep surfaces and materials permanently antiseptic has significant implications and is very exciting.”

The objective of the project was to synthesize molecules that would mimic the defensive peptides that circulate in the blood and act against invading pathogens even before white blood cells begin to function. There are more than 500 of these natural, bacteria-fighting peptides known. They act by disrupting the bacterial cell membrane. This happens because the negatively charged bacteria physically attract the positively charged peptides. The newly designed synthetic molecules are attracted in the same fashion. Then, once the polymer has bound to the bacterial cell membrane, its amphiphilic properties cause holes to form that allow the cell contents to leak out and result in the death of the organism.

What is novel in the current study is that the researchers focused on the overall shape of the peptides, rather than the specific chemistry. Tew explained, "The antimicrobial activity of this class of peptides depends on its overall physiochemical properties, rather than the precise details of its amino acids.”



Related Links:
University of Massachusetts