Covalent grafting of antimicrobial peptides onto microcrystalline cellulose

The purpose of this work is to set up a generalprotocol for the production of antimicrobial materials based oncellulose and peptides. We exploited the chemical ligation reactionto achieve the conjugation of peptides to cellulose; to this aim, weproduced thioester peptides and cysteine-modified cellulose. Asthe thioester handle can be inserted at any position of the peptide,the peptide can be immobilized onto the cellulose through its N-or C-terminal end or through any other position within thesequence. Our experiments performed onEscherichia coliculturesshow that the cellulose conjugated to the peptides lasioglossin-IIIand TBKKG6A causes a significant reduction in the concentrationof viable cells as compared to unmodified cellulose. In conclusion, antimicrobial peptides bound to cellulose through a covalent bondretain their activity and therefore have the potential to be used as active ingredients in antimicrobial materials.