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Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides: converging to a non-lytic mechanism of action

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Abstract

Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides are a group of cationic host defense peptides of vertebrates and invertebrates characterized by a high content of proline residues, often associated with arginine residues in repeated motifs. Those isolated from some mammalian and insect species, although not evolutionarily related, use a similar mechanism to selectively kill Gram-negative bacteria, with a low toxicity to animals. Unlike other types of antimicrobial peptides, their mode of action does not involve the lysis of bacterial membranes but entails penetration into susceptible cells, where they then act intracellularly. Some aspects of the transport system and cytoplasmic targets have been elucidated. These features make them attractive both as anti-infective lead compounds and as a new class of potential cell-penetrating peptides capable of internalising membrane-impermeant drugs into both bacterial and eukaryotic cells

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Abbreviations

AMP:

Antimicrobial peptide

CPP:

Cell-penetrating peptide

LPS:

Lipopolysaccharide

PR-AMP:

Proline-rich AMPs

HDP:

Host defence peptide

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry for University and Research (PRIN 2008), from the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia grant under the LR 26/2005, art. 23 for the R3A2 network, and the Marie Curie project PIAP-GA-2008-218191.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università di Trieste, Via Giorgieri 1, 34127, Trieste, Italy

    Marco Scocchi, Alessandro Tossi & Renato Gennaro

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  1. Marco Scocchi
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  2. Alessandro Tossi
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  3. Renato Gennaro
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Correspondence to Renato Gennaro.

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Scocchi, M., Tossi, A. & Gennaro, R. Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides: converging to a non-lytic mechanism of action. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 68, 2317–2330 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-011-0721-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-011-0721-7

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