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Investigating the nucleic acid interactions and antimicrobial mechanism of buforin II
Author(s) -
Uyterhoeven Erika T.,
Butler Chase H.,
Ko Danette,
Elmore Donald E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2008.04.036
Subject(s) - nucleic acid , antimicrobial , mechanism (biology) , dna , chemistry , peptide , biochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , bacteria , antimicrobial peptides , computational biology , peptide nucleic acid , biology , genetics , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Buforin II (BF2) is an antimicrobial peptide that is hypothesized to kill bacteria by entering cells and binding nucleic acids. To further investigate this proposed mechanism, we used computer modeling and experimental measurements to consider the interactions between BF2 and DNA. Computational and experimental results imply that the peptide forms specific interactions with DNA. Moreover, we observe a general correlation between DNA affinity and antimicrobial activity for a series of BF2 variants. Thus, our results support the proposed mechanism for BF2 and provide a useful approach for evaluating the nucleic acid interactions of other antimicrobial peptides.