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Non-haemolytic β-amino-acid oligomers: Antibiotics
Pathogenic bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to common antibiotics, stimulating an intensive search for new ones. Knowing that a class of medium-sized peptides (magainins 1 ) are widely used by host organisms as a defence against microbial invasion 2 , we developed a β-amino-acid oligomer...
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Published in: | Nature (London) 2000-04, Vol.404 (6778), p.565-565 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Pathogenic bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to common antibiotics, stimulating an intensive search for new ones. Knowing that a class of medium-sized peptides (magainins
1
) are widely used by host organisms as a defence against microbial invasion
2
, we developed a β-amino-acid oligomer (β-peptide) that mimics these natural antibiotics and tested it for antimicrobial activity. We find not only that the activity of our β-peptide is comparable to that of a magainin derivative but also that it is effective against four bacterial species, including two pathogens that are resistant to common antibiotics. |
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ISSN: | 0028-0836 1476-4687 |
DOI: | 10.1038/35007145 |