The present study presents the tertiary assembly of a POM, peptide, and biogenic amine, which is a concept to construct new hybrid bio-inorganic materials for antibacterial applications and will help to promote the development of antivirus agents in the future. To achieve this, a Eu-containing polyoxometalate (EuW10) was first co-assembled with a biogenic amine of spermine (Spm), which improved both the luminescence and antibacterial effect of EuW10. Further introduction of a basic peptide from HPV E6, GL-22, induced more extensive enhancements, both of them being attributed to the cooperation and synergistic effects between the constituents, particularly the adaptive responses of assembly to the bacterial microenvironment (BME). Further intrinsic mechanism investigations revealed in detail that the encapsulation of EuW10 in Spm and further GL-22 enhanced the uptake abilities of EuW10 in bacteria, which further improved the ROS generation in BME via the abundant H2O2 involved there and significantly promoted the antibacterial effects.
Keywords: adaptive response; antibacterial enhancements; bacterial microenvironment (BME); biogenic amine; polyoxometalates (POMs).