On the Aggregation State of Synergistic Antimicrobial Peptides

Abstract

By integrating various simulation and experimental techniques, we discovered that antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) may achieve synergy at an optimal concentration and ratio, which can be caused by aggregation of the synergistic peptides. On multiple time and length scales, our studies obtain novel evidence of how peptide co-aggregation in solution can affect disruption of membranes by synergistic AMPs. Our findings provide crucial details about the complex molecular origins of AMP synergy, which will help guide the future development of synergistic AMPs as well as applications of anti-infective peptide cocktail therapies.