Antimicrobial Polymethacrylates Synthesized as Mimics of Tryptophan-Rich Cationic Peptides

Katherine E S Locock; Thomas D Michl; Natalie Stevens; John D Hayball; Krasimir Vasilev; Almar Postma; Hans J Griesser; Laurence Meagher; Matthias Haeussler

doi:10.1021/mz5001527

Antimicrobial Polymethacrylates Synthesized as Mimics of Tryptophan-Rich Cationic Peptides

ACS Macro Lett. 2014 Apr 15;3(4):319-323. doi: 10.1021/mz5001527. Epub 2014 Mar 19.

Authors

Katherine E S Locock¹, Thomas D Michl², Natalie Stevens³, John D Hayball³, Krasimir Vasilev⁴, Almar Postma¹, Hans J Griesser⁴, Laurence Meagher¹, Matthias Haeussler¹

Affiliations

¹ CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
² Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095, Australia.
³ Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, City East, South Australia 5000, Australia.
⁴ Mawson Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095, Australia.

PMID: 35590739
DOI: 10.1021/mz5001527

Abstract

This study describes a facile and high yielding route to two series of polymethacrylates inspired by the naturally occurring, tryptophan-rich cationic antimicrobial polymers. Appropriate optimization of indole content within each gave rise to polymers with high potency against Staphylococcus epidermidis (e.g., PGI-3 minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 12 μg/mL) and the methicillin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (e.g., PGI-3 MIC = 47 μg/mL) with minimal toxicity toward human red blood cells. Future work will be directed toward understanding the cooperative roles that the cationic and indole pendant groups have for the mechanism of these polymers.