Abstract
Ascaphins are cationic antimicrobial peptides that have been shown to have potential in the treatment of infectious diseases caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens (MDR). However, to date, their principal molecular target and mechanism of action are unknown. Results from peptide prediction software and molecular dynamics simulations confirmed that ascaphin-8 is an alpha-helical peptide. For the first time, the peptide was described as membranotrophic using biophysical approaches including calcein liposome leakage, Laurdan general polarization, and dynamic light scattering. Ascaphin-8's activity and selectivity were modulated by rearranging the spatial distribution of lysine (Var-K5), aspartic acid (Var-D4) residues, or substitution of phenylalanine with tyrosine (Var-Y). The parental peptide and its variants presented high affinity toward the bacterial membrane model (≤2 μM), but lost activity in sterol-enriched membranes (mammal and fungal models, with cholesterol and ergosterol, respectively). The peptide-induced pore size was estimated to be >20 nm in the bacterial model, with no difference among peptides. The same pattern was observed in membrane fluidity (general polarization) assays, where all peptides reduced membrane fluidity of the bacterial model but not in the models containing sterols. The peptides also showed high activity toward MDR bacteria. Moreover, peptide sensitivity of the artificial membrane models compared with pathogenic bacterial isolates were in good agreement.