Effective inhibition of Clostridioides difficile by the novel peptide CM-A

PLoS One. 2021 Sep 13;16(9):e0257431. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257431. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile infection is the most common cause of nosocomial and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. C. difficile treatment is increasingly likely to fail, and the recurrence rate is high. Antimicrobial peptides are considered an alternative treatment for many infectious diseases, including those caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. In the present study, we identified a CM peptide, a hybrid of cecropin A and melittin, and its derivative which possesses potent antimicrobial activity against C. difficile strain 630. CM peptide exhibited antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration of 3.906 μg/ml (2.21 μM). A modified derivative of CM, CM-A, exhibited even greater activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.953 μg/ml (1.06 μM) and a minimum bactericidal concentration of 7.8125 μg/ml (4.24 μM), which indicates that CM-A peptide is more efficient than its parent peptide. A fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis revealed that the membrane of C. difficile 630 could be an important target for CM-A. This peptide induced high levels of cell depolarization and cell permeability on C. difficile cell membrane. Moreover, electron microscopy imaging showed that CM-A interferes with the C. difficile cell membrane. Hence, the antimicrobial peptide CM-A may represent a promising novel approach for the treatment of C. difficile infections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / chemistry*
  • Antimicrobial Peptides / chemistry
  • Caco-2 Cells
  • Cell Membrane / drug effects
  • Clostridioides difficile / drug effects*
  • Clostridium Infections / drug therapy*
  • Drug Design
  • Fluorescent Dyes / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Melitten / chemistry*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Protein Structure, Secondary

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
  • Antimicrobial Peptides
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Peptides
  • Melitten
  • cecropin A

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.15049416.v1
  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.15049419.v1
  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.15049422.v1
  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.15049425.v1

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from the National Research Council of Thailand.