Membrane-Active Action Mode of Polybia-CP, a Novel Antimicrobial Peptide Isolated from the Venom of Polybia paulista

Abstract

The extensive use of antibiotics in medicine, the food industry, and agriculture has resulted in the frequent emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which creates an urgent need for new antibiotics. It is now widely recognized that antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) could play a promising role in fighting multidrug-resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial peptide polybia-CP was purified from the venom of the social wasp Polybia paulista. In this study, we synthesized polybia-CP and studied its action mode of antibacterial activity. Our results revealed that polybia-CP has potent antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The results from both the real bacterial membrane and the in vitro model membrane showed that polybia-CP is membrane active and that its action target is the membrane of bacteria. It is difficult for bacteria to develop resistance to polybia-CP, which may thus offer a new strategy for defending against resistant bacteria in medicine and the food and farming industries.